(From The New York Times)
Jan. 11, 2002
Proposed Sale Would Save Twins From Contraction
By MURRAY CHASS

The Associated Press

In a development that would be almost too good to be true for baseball fans in the upper Midwest, a billionaire from Birmingham, Ala., emerged from a meeting with Major League Baseball officials yesterday and prepared to take the next step to buy the Minnesota Twins and save them from contraction.

And baseball appears ready to let him do it.

The businessman, Donald Watkins, said he was also prepared to build a new park for the Twins with private funds, a rare act in professional sports. Euphoric after receiving positive signals, Watkins said he would contact Carl Pohlad, the Twins' owner, next week and arrange for talks with Pohlad and his family.

"The welcome mat was out for the first time directly by Major League Baseball and the reception was warm, so I am extremely encouraged and appreciative," Watkins said. "I've locked onto the Twins and I will do everything in my power to obtain ownership of that team."

If he is successful, Watkins would become the first black to be majority owner of a major league team.

Only 15 minutes earlier, Watkins had left a two-and-a-half hour meeting over lunch at the Four Seasons restaurant in Manhattan with Bill Bartholomay, the chairman of the ownership committee, and Tom Ostertag, general counsel for Major League Baseball.

Later in the day a baseball official familiar with the meeting confirmed Watkins's characterization of it. He cautioned, however, that Watkins still had to negotiate the purchase with the Twins.

Reached at his home yesterday, Pohlad did not reply directly when asked if he would be receptive to an offer from Watkins. "I've never heard from him," Pohlad said. "He's never written me, never called me." Asked whether he would consider selling the team instead of having it eliminated, he said: "I'd have to talk to my sons about what our interest is, if any. My son Jim pretty much runs things."

Commissioner Bud Selig would have to alter his contraction plans if Watkins buys the Twins. Selig has not officially identified the two teams he plans to eliminate if baseball can move beyond challenges to contraction in the court and by the union. But according to officials in baseball, the Twins and the Montreal Expos have clearly been the targets.

Selig would have to find a substitute for the Twins, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays would appear to be the likely candidate. Watkins had previously considered buying the Devil Rays.

"That was the only opportunity I was aware of last summer," said Watkins, 53, the founder and chairman of Alamerica Bank in Birmingham. Once he became aware of the Twins' situation, he said, he changed his plan.

"It's an established franchise," he said in a lengthy telephone interview. "It has a tremendous fan base that is sincere and devoted to the team. They are one or two players away from being a great team. They've experienced a championship and the stadium issue is a wonderful opportunity for me because they have only one year left on their lease."

The Twins, who have been in Minneapolis for 41 years, have been targeted for elimination because they, along with the Expos, have had the lowest revenue among the 30 major league teams. In addition, baseball officials have seen no hope for improvement as long as the Twins do not have a new park, and public officials have rejected using taxpayers' money to build a park to replace the 20-year-old Metrodome.

Watkins said he had already done preliminary exploration on a new park with a retractable roof and estimated its cost at $350 million. He said that funding would come from him, other private investors, naming rights and on-site attractions like a museum and family entertainment.

"As baseball moves forward in the 21st century," Watkins said, "new owners coming into the game will have to be innovative, particularly with facilities financing."

He said he would not estimate a price for the team until he studied its certified financial statements. "Once I can measure the asset pool and quality and the liability obligations, I can come up with a fair market price for that team," he said. "I will pay fair market price, not contraction price. Contraction price is basically a farewell price that would be higher than the fair market price."

Forbes magazine has valued the Twins at $99 million. Officials have not said what baseball would pay the Twins to be eliminated, but speculation had put the price between $125 million and $150 million.

"I'm ready to rock and roll," Watkins said. "This is not something where you pop up on the scene a few months ago. I've been preparing for this all my life."

Although Watkins would complicate the contraction plan if he were to buy the Twins, he would in another way make Selig's life easier.

Selig has encountered controversy this week with the disclosure that in 1995, when he was president of the Milwaukee Brewers and the acting commissioner, he arranged for a short-term $3 million loan from one of Pohlad's financial companies but did not disclose it to the other owners or ask them to approve it, as a major league rule requires.

Charges of conflict of interest immediately arose, and Representative John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, asked Selig to resign on Wednesday. Conyers retreated from that position yesterday, saying that he would withdraw his call for Selig's resignation if Selig would call off contraction for the 2002 season. Selig responded with a letter to Conyers but did not comment on his request.

Considering the contraction circumstances, Pohlad, a billionaire businessman who has said he wants to get out of baseball, does not seem to be in a position to reject any reasonable offer from Watkins. Twins fans are eager for someone to save the team and would not look kindly on Pohlad if he rejected an offer and let the team die.

Watkins does not talk about his worth, but it has been estimated at $1.5 billion. A litigation lawyer for 25 years until 1999, he also owns Watkins Pencor LLC, which holds energy assets throughout the world.

"I look for deals to do and I do a deal," he said. "Things go bad, I get in at a low price, grow them and keep them in the family."