Selig: Compensation breakthrough?
(c) Herald de Paris
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According to reports in the New York Post and the Houston Chronicle, Bud Selig and Major League Baseball have apparently moved past vetting Jim Crane for approval as the new owner of the Houston Astros and are now negotiating on compensation that Crane's group would receive for their consent to switch the Astros to the American League.
The sum leaked out is $50 million dollars.
It's unclear if other compensation, such as bonus draft choices or the promise of Houston hosting another All-Star Game, might also be on the table to bridge whatever gap between the two sides remains.
Crane has said for months that the league switch was the sticking point in approving the sale, not the vetting of Crane and his large group of investors. It appears he was right about that.
Among Crane's arguments for compensation is that American League payrolls are higher than National League ones due to the cost of paying a Designated Hitter (approximately $8 million on average). $50 million would pay for roughly six years of an average DH and then the Astros will be on their own.
But that's oversimplification. The compensation should also factor in the loss of revenue from the many fans upset with the move who will stop supporting the Astros in ticket and merchandise sales.
Considered also should be the impact felt by the new cable channel the Astros will need to sell to cable, satellite and video services in the region to carry Astros and Rockets game.
This will be a sticky problem for the new channel. They will not be able to broadcast the Rockets in the lucrative Central Texas market controlled by the San Antonio Spurs and many a content provider will be asking Comcast sales representatives "Why should we charge money to carry the Astros when we already have a channel to show an American League team that wins titles and plays the same opponents?" In the rush to match up the Rangers and Astros 18 times a season, has anyone bothered to ask which cable channel the state's viewers will tune to in order to watch those games?
There will likely be no major announcement until after the World Series and perhaps not until the next owners meeting in mid-November when the official sale vote will be taking place.
There is still a chance talks will fall through but the only real obstacle now seems to be what type of discount Crane receives on his $680 million sale price with Drayton McLane in order to further set back the franchise.
Will baseball fans in Houston care or will they simply ignore the Astros as seems to be the case in many of the Houston sports bars I visited this summer? Interest and support for the Astros was shockingly low in a city that had pulsed with support just six years ago. Switching leagues may be the final blow for many of them. The Rangers may become to local fans what the Cowboys are to NFL fans - with the Houston team existing as a punchline, if not an afterthought.
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