Legal threats rumble in wake of owners' contraction plan

NEW YORK -- Negotiations over eliminating teams could start as soon as today, when representatives of baseball owners meet with the union and players.

A day after owners voted to get rid of two clubs -- with Montreal and Minnesota the top candidates -- former commissioner Fay Vincent criticized owners for making their decision without consulting the union.

Baseball's labor contract expired at midnight Wednesday, and talks about shrinking the league appear likely to get caught up in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The union maintains owners need the permission of players to eliminate teams; management disagrees, saying it has to bargain only on the mechanics of contraction, such as dispersing players.

"The lawyers in baseball have been so wrong in labor matters," said Vincent, baseball's commissioner from 1989 until 1992. "It probably puts baseball off on the wrong foot, and that's too bad."

During the World Series, management asked that players be available for a meeting today, one person familiar with the talks said Wednesday, on the condition he not be identified. Several players were expected to attend, but there was a chance the meeting could be scrapped at the last minute, the person said.

In Minneapolis, a hearing is scheduled today in Hennepin County District Court, where District Judge Diana Eagon issued a temporary restraining order against the Twins and major league baseball.

Twins sued over lease

The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission sued Tuesday to compel the Twins to honor their lease to play in the Metrodome, which runs through next season.

Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch said Wednesday he plans to file a federal lawsuit against major league baseball if owners move forward with contraction. The suit would claim owners are illegally folding two teams to increase market share for the rest.

"If you had 30 owners of banks get together in a room and agree to buy out two of the banks for purposes of increasing their market share ... you'd have an antitrust suit filed by somebody," he said. The owners are interfering with open competition, he said.

U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., said he would introduce legislation today that would revoke major league baseball's antitrust exemption, hoping to use it as leverage in preventing the elimination of the Twins. In 1922, the U.S. Supreme Court decided baseball was a sport and not interstate commerce, and was exempt from antitrust laws.

"This is a good shot across the bow," Wellstone said. "It's a message to owners, you might get people angry enough and lose the exemption"

Baseball owners want to eliminate financially weak teams that took a large share of the $160 million in revenue sharing money that is being transferred from the large markets to the small markets this year.

Commissioner Bud Selig said the two teams to be eliminated would be determined later, but other owners said Montreal and Minnesota were the primary choices, with Florida, Oakland and Tampa Bay more remote possibilities.