Only months after publicly expressing a desire to bring triple-A baseball back to the Wasatch Front, Salt Lake officials appear to be learning a lesson from their first encounter with an interested owner.
Teams in the triple-A level of baseball - the highest level next to the major leagues - can be demanding.And their owners want taxpayers to help them succeed.
For several weeks, the owner of the Denver Zephyrs, a team made homeless because of major-league expansion into Colorado, has negotiated with Salt Lake officials to bring his team here.
But in order to acquire the Zephyrs, Salt Lake City would have to provide millions of dollars in incentives with little, if any, return.
Terms "unacceptable"
According to documents obtained from Louisiana - where Denver team owner John Dikeou made a similar offer - as well as from statements by Dikeou himself, Salt Lake City would have to guarantee the sale of 2,000 season tickets, at a cost approaching $1 million.
The city would have to buy baseball's territorial rights to the city and hand them to Dikeou, at a cost that may exceed $2 million.
And, among other things, the city would have to allow the team to play rent-free in a new stadium maintained and groomed at city expense.
In return, Dikeou's team would share 10 percent of its net revenues with the city - but only after it had earned, and kept, the first $2 million in profit. City officials believe the team isn't likely to earn that much, and the city ultimately would receive nothing.
In addition, the team would receive half of any amount paid by a person or corporation that wanted its name attached to the new stadium, and Dikeou would decide where to place the new stadium and how to design it.
Because a new stadium won't be ready until 1994, Dikeou wants the city to refurbish aging Derks Field for use in 1993.
And the Zephyrs could leave town after five years.
Salt Lake City officials, who set aside $3.7 million earlier this year to begin building a stadium and who hope to receive help from the county and the state to finish it, said they believe taxpayers would be outraged if the city agreed to Dikeou's terms.
City officials remain quiet about their negotiations with Dikeou. They insist he swore them to confidentiality at the start of the talks, and they said Tuesday those talks continue.
While not acknowledging the terms, Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini said, "What he (Dikeou) wanted was totally unacceptable."Louisiana offer
Although he has openly discussed some of his terms, Dikeou also has been quiet about what specifically he was asking for.
He said only that he wanted what Jefferson Parrish, La., a county near New Orleans, had agreed to give him. His deal with that county dissolved when the Louisiana Legislature failed earlier this year to provide the money to build a new stadium.
Earlier this week, Jefferson Parrish officials provided the Deseret News with a copy of the agreement, and Dikeou acknowledged the terms were identical to those he gave Salt Lake officials.
Dikeou said he has lost interest in coming to Salt Lake City, mainly because a new stadium won't be ready soon enough. But he warned city officials to be more liberal with the next team.
"The next guy who comes down the road, you're going to see they're pretty close to what we said we wanted," he said.
But a city source who spoke on condition of anonymity said Dikeou's offer would have given Salt Lake City one of the worst deals in triple-A baseball. The source said many teams in the Pacific Coast League ultimately provide from $50,000 to $100,000 per year to their cities. The Zephyrs' offer would have given Salt Lake City nothing.
Financial problems
Dikeou's offer may reflect his own financial problems. A major landowner in downtown Denver, Dikeou once was a key figure in the move to bring major-league baseball to Denver. However, he was forced to drop out of the effort in 1991 after banks began foreclosing on many of his properties.
The son of Greek immigrants who arrived in Denver in 1921, Dikeou and his siblings inherited a fortune that started with a wholesale popcorn, candy and tobacco distribution company. In 1942, the family started speculating in downtown land, according to the Rocky Mountain News.
Much of what Dikeou now owns includes boarded and vacant buildings, parking lots and decaying hotels. However, he does own some prosperous shopping malls.
"The Dikeous still do own a lot," said Debi Robertson of Dresco Inc., a company that tracks commercial real estate in downtown Denver. "But they've lost a lot of it, too."
Dikeou's downtown hotels have run afoul of local health inspectors.
Richard Hann, supervisor for the Denver County Health Department's housing section, said two Dikeou hotels recently were cited for problems with dirty toilets and sinks, bugs and pests, as well as leaks.
All of which has fueled worries Dikeou may bring problems to whichever city he moves.
Dikeou brushed aside the worries.
"A lot of people have had problems (during the recession)," he said. "But we're going to get some money from the Colorado Rockies, and that will help."
The Rockies, Denver's new major-league team, must pay Dikeou for his territorial rights to the city.
Dikeou said he will decide within weeks where to move.
Meanwhile, Salt Lake officials, who are proceeding with plans for a new stadium in a location yet to be determined, said they are talking with other triple-A teams interested in coming.
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(Chart)
Denver Zephyrs make demands
-Power to decide where to build new stadium and how to design it.
-Use of new stadium rentfree.
-A refurbished Derks Field for use until new stadium done.
-Right to keep its first $2 million in profit each year, free and clear.
-Right to keep 90 percent of any revenue above $2 million.
-Half the money raised by naming the stadium.
-Free maintenance of the stadium and grounds.
-Free utilities, except telephone.
-Baseball's Salt Lake territory, bought as gift from Salt Lake Trappers.
-A five-year lease.
-A guarantee of 2,000 season tickets, backed by city coffers.