Phoenix — On an historic day when baseball owners discussed trading teams instead of players, they voted Wednesday to approve the $660 million sale of the Boston Red Sox to a group led by Florida Marlins owner John Henry.
Owners, who usually take six to 12 months to process franchise sales, acted in record speed, part of a tumultuous offseason dominated by their plan to cut from 30 to 28 teams. That plan, which calls for major league teams to be eliminated for the first time since 1899, has been stalled in court.
After lengthy negotiations between the Red Sox and the Massachusetts attorney general that ended just hours before the meeting's start, owners approved the Boston deal 29-0, with the New York Yankees abstaining.
"Baseball runs in our veins, just like it runs in yours," Henry said in a message to Red Sox fans.
The vote sets in motion plans for Henry to sell the Marlins for $158 million to Jeffrey Loria, the Montreal Expos owner, and for Loria to sell his team to the commissioner's office for $120 million. With baseball's contraction plan stalled, the commissioner's office appears likely to operate the Expos this season.
"We haven't made a final decision yet but certainly that is one of the things under consideration. Absolutely," commissioner Bud Selig said.
Baseball is hoping the Red Sox sale closes by the end of February and that the other deals can be approved before spring training starts in mid-February.
The price of the Expos means Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad is likely to ask for more than $120 million from Donald Watkins, the Alabama businessman who wants to buy the Twins to save the team from extinction.
In acquiring the Red Sox, Henry's group gets the team, Fenway Park and 80 percent of the New England Sports Network. The price is more than double the previous record for a baseball franchise the $323 million paid by Larry Dolan for the Cleveland Indians in 2000. In addition to the money it is paying for the team, Henry's group will assume $40 million in debt.
Boston's deal has been filled with controversy. The team's current owners spurned a $755 million offer from New York lawyer Miles Prentice and $750 million bid from Cablevision Systems Corp. chairman Charles Dolan Larry Dolan's brother.
The Jean R. Yawkey Foundation, which owns a 53 percent controlling interest in the Red Sox, will receive $410 million from the Henry group, which includes a number of baseball insiders who are friends of commissioner Bud Selig: former San Diego owner Tom Werner, former Padres and Baltimore Orioles president Larry Lucchino and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.
"I'm not concerned about the way John Harrington handled the sale or his people," Selig said, "or the way major league baseball handled the sale."
Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly, saying he wanted to make sure charities benefitting from the Yawkey Trust get the most money they can, negotiated a deal Wednesday that calls for Henry's group to create a $20 million charity to fund youth, educational and other organizations and for the Yawkey trust to receive $10 million from the team's current limited partners.
Reilly has expressed concern that Selig and Harrington, the chief executive officer of the Red Sox, led Boston's limited partners to agree to a deal with Henry's group. Prentice and Dolan haven't said whether they will challenge the sale in court.
"This may not seem obvious at the moment, but running this team is one of the greatest jobs in the world," Harrington said in a statement.
Loria, a New York art dealer, is expected to bring much of his top staff to the Marlins, including executive vice president David Samson, interim general manager Larry Beinfest and manager Jeff Torborg. Florida has been without a GM and manager since the end of the season. Samson said it was too early to discuss the staff issues.
The Marlins have struggled since winning the World Series in just their fifth season in 1997, and repeatedly have said they cannot survive without a new ballpark.
"It is absolutely premature to be talking about anything with a stadium in Florida," Samson said.
Montreal also claims it has an inadequate ballpark, and the Expos probably will be folded or moved for the 2003 season, possibly to Washington, D.C.
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