(Reprint From The Orange County Register)
October 29, 2002

Potential buyers get serious - The Angels could have a new owner by year's end as four prospects ask for MLB permission.

By MICHELE HIMMELBERG

The Angels could have a new owner by the end of the year as prospective owners accelerate their efforts to purchase the team from the Walt Disney Co.

Alabama businessman Donald Watkins, considered a longshot because he hasn't proved his financial worth, said Monday he plans to increase the offer he made to Disney last month. That offer was reportedly $200 million.

Before the Angels won the World Series, experts placed the team's value between $170 million and $250 million.

``I need to adjust in an upward fashion what I offered in September,'' Watkins said. ``The true value of the team today is somewhere north of $200 million.''

As many as eight other groups or individuals have expressed interest in buying the team, and at least four have sought baseball's approval: Watkins; former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, who sat with Commissioner Bud Selig for Game 7 of the World Series; the Nederlander Organization of New York, whose owners have ties to Disney and Major League Baseball; and Mexican billionaire Carlos Peralta, who wants to expand baseball's appeal to the Latin American and U.S. ethnic markets.

Watkins, who will meet with advisers this week to decide on a new offer, doesn't mind that he's not the leading contender.

``I occupy the same underdog role that the Angels did in March,'' said Watkins, who would be the first black majority owner in baseball. ``I've had that role all my life, so I'm accustomed to it.

``My passion for competing and winning matches the passion of the Angels team.''

Watkins said he has spent $100,000 a month since March on consultants and attorneys who are helping him create a business plan for the team. One is former Angels president Richard Brown, a sports attorney.

``I think a deal could be signed, sealed and delivered for a new owner to take over by Jan. 1,'' Brown said. ``If I was a new owner, I would not want to let the current owners make the difficult decisions that have to be made.''

Those decisions could include whether to increase ticket prices for a team that is suddenly in high demand, how to manage escalating payroll and what roster changes might be necessary.

Disney declined to comment on the sale, but economists said it works in the company's favor to act quickly.

``Sell now while the team is still basking in the World Series glow and before any new discussion of player contracts begins,'' said Leo H. Kahane, a Cal State Hayward professor and co-editor of the Journal of Sports Economics. ``With a World Series championship, revenues may stand to increase. Their costs, however, are likely to rise as players cash in on their performance this year.''

Jackie Autry, widow of the team's original owner, Gene, said Sunday she is interested in buying a minority interest, depending on who purchases the team. She and Ueberroth are friends, and she considered selling the team to Ueberroth in 1996 before Disney outbid his investment group.