Word: smulyan
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...Mariners have always had problems attracting local owners, however. Smulyan is from Indianapolis. The previous owner, George Argyros, was from California...
Then they found him: a respected local businessperson whose company employed 1400 area workers, whose children went to Seattle schools, and who, unlike Argyros or Smulyan, actually possesses a Washington State driver's license. A resident for 15 years, Minoru Arakawa seemed the perfect man to head a coalition of Seattle backers...
...Smulyan, like Argyros before him, has been widely quoted as saying that baseball in Seattle is a losing venture and that the community doesn't support the Mariners. Smulyan has claimed that as much as he would like to keep baseball in Seattle, he can't afford to. If local buyers don't come forward, Smulyan says he will sell the team to outside interests...
While the courts debate whether the team can be legally moved at this point in their contract, it is widely believed that Tampa-St. Petersburg would be the eager recipients of a transient Mariners team. There is more "support" for baseball in Florida, Smulyan says...
THIS IS NOT to say that Smulyan and other owners owe all their financial difficulties to the outrageous demands of players. Among the expenses that Smulyan has attributed to the Mariners when calculating his "losses" are a chartered plane to take him from Indianapolis to "home" games (Arakawa could take the bus) and payments he is still making on the loan that financed his purchase of the team in the first place. Smulyan is not losing money--he is just not making as much as he wants as quickly as he had hoped...