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Old 04-30-2012, 09:23 PM   #15
Hendu Style
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January 22, 1992 | ROSS NEWMAN | TIMES STAFF WRITER

Is baseball coming to Florida ahead of schedule? A group of St. Petersburg investors is hoping so. Just as Major League Baseball is preparing to expand into Miami and Denver for the 1993 season, investors are preparing a bid to purchase a struggling MLB franchise and move it to the Tampa Bay area.

"It's not a question of 'if,' but rather 'when,'" said one anonymous source close to the potential ownership group. "It's going to happen, and it's going to happen soon."

The anonymous source said the group had narrowed down its list to three different franchises, but would not say which teams or if they were for sale or not. The Mariners have struggled since their inaugural season in Seattle in 1977, both on the field and financially. The San Francisco Giants went to the World Series as recently as 1989, but have failed to secure a ballpark deal they so desperately need to replace the dilapidated Candlestick Park. The Astros are also considered a possibility, playing in the antiquated Astrodome and facing declining attendance in each of the past four seasons, failing to draw 2 million fans since the 1980 season.

Wayne Huizenga, who is the majority owner of the future Marlins franchise in Miami, is believed to be very much against any franchise moving to Tampa Bay. He has reportedly gone to the MLB Commissioner's Office and claimed that a franchise in Tampa Bay would infringe upon his club's territorial rights in Florida.

"Florida is big enough for more than one team," said the anonymous source. "The Marlins aren't the only fish in this pond."
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