Saturday, June 11, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

TEAM FOR SALE: 51s owner fielding offers

Team president says MLB relocation talk sparked interest from potential buyers, but a deal is not close

By MATT YOUMANS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

A change of ownership might be in the future for Las Vegas' Triple-A baseball franchise, but 51s president Don Logan said Friday that "nothing is close" to being a done deal.

Logan said Mandalay Baseball Properties, the Los Angeles-based company that owns the 51s, is fielding offers for the team.

"Mandalay is not actively marketing the team but is listening to offers," said Logan, a vice president and partner of Mandalay Baseball Properties. "We have had and turned down offers in the last couple years.

"Anything is for sale. If somebody wants to buy the team, it's not going to be cheap."

The price tag could be in the neighborhood of $20 million, which is what Larry Miller, owner of the NBA's Utah Jazz, paid for the Triple-A Salt Lake franchise this year.

Mandalay also owns teams in Dayton, Ohio, Erie, Pa., Frisco, Texas, and Hagerstown, Md.

The Las Vegas team, an affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is Mandalay's most valuable.

Logan said when Major League Baseball officials showed interest in relocating the Montreal Expos to Las Vegas, the 51s became an intriguing franchise to potential buyers.

"We have been approached a lot since the whole major league baseball thing surfaced," Logan said. "We got call after call during that whole period of time."

Mandalay received two formal offers for the franchise, the latest coming last fall, and rejected both, Logan said.

Las Vegas lost out on a relocation bid last year for the Expos, who relocated to Washington, D.C., but the city should have other options. The Florida Marlins and Oakland Athletics are considered the franchises most likely to move to Las Vegas.

Logan has been in talks with Mayor Oscar Goodman about building a stadium for the 51s that could be expanded to accommodate a major league team. Those talks have stalled.

If a major league team arrives and forces the 51s to move, the Triple-A franchise would be due territorial rights fees of at least $10 million.

"What has put this to the forefront is all the talk about major league baseball," Logan said. "I think it's still at least five years away from major league baseball coming here, but it is imminent."

Logan has been involved in different capacities with the Las Vegas franchise since 1984, the year after its inception.

Logan is a partner in Mandalay Baseball Properties, which took control of the 51s in 2001. Stephens Media Group, parent company of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, also is a partner.