Citing high start-up costs, Triple-A Phoenix Firebirds owner Martin Stone says he likely will withdraw his bid for a franchise, seriously setting back an effort to bring major league baseball to Arizona.
Stone, a frontrunner in Phoenix's effort to get a major league franchise, said Monday he is "90 percent" certain he will withdraw his bid if he cannot persuade National League owners to reduce the $95 million franchise fee.But, Stone added that he is attempting to arrange a meeting later this week with members of the league's expansion task force.
"I have come to no final decisions, because I want to go forward in Phoenix," Stone told the Arizona Republic Monday from his office in Lake Placid, N.Y. "But to do that, I'm going to probably have to negotiate a deal or negotiate a different kind of price. I'm going to proceed as if it is negotiable . . . . It may be that it isn't negotiable."
The National League will award two new franchises next year to begin play in 1993.
Stone said he would have to pay an additional $40 million to $50 million in start-up costs, which would put the actual cost of beginning a franchise at $135 million to $145 million.