Japanese investors have been given virtual approval to purchase the Seattle Mariners, their first major league sports team in the United States.
But while they can own the team, they won't be able to control it.Baseball's ownership committee voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend the sale of the Mariners to a group headed by Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo Co. Ltd. of Kyoto. Final approval of the $125 million deal is expected today during separate American and National League meetings.
Three-quarters of the 14 AL teams and a majority of the 12 NL teams must approve the deal, but the committee's decision makes today's final vote a foregone conclusion.
Yamauchi, who is contributing $75 million to the purchasing group, agreed to give up most control of the team in order to gain approval. Commissioner Fay Vincent said Yamauchi's power will be limited to decisions involving the relocation or sale of the franchise.
"He has the power to approve certain transactions in the realm of extraordinary events," Vincent said. "This venture is not going to be controlled outside North America. This venture is going to be controlled in Seattle."
John Ellis, the chairman of Puget Sound Power & Light Co. in Bellevue, Wash., will become the Mariners' chief executive officer when the deal closes in about a month. He will have final say over budgets, banking and loan agreements, leases, broadcast contracts and baseball operations.
Yamauchi released a statement in Tokyo that was as low-key as his expected role with the team.
"The owners will conduct a formal vote at their meeting Wednesday, and I believe that the conditions for approval will be announced then," he said. "I will wait for that to discuss my feelings and thoughts on this
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matter.
"At this point the conditions have not been announced. This is all I can comment, but I believe the conditions presented will be accepted by the Seattle Baseball Club and will be amenable to me as well."
The deal follows a series of high-profile transactions that led to trade friction between the United States and Japan. In the past five years, Sony Corp. brought Columbia Pictures Entertainment and CBS Records; Mitsubishi Estate Co. bought 51 percent of Rockefeller Group Inc., which owns Rockefeller Center, and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. bought MCA Inc., which owns Universal Pictures.
In addition, Japanese investors own the Pebble Beach Co., Belmont Stakes winner A.P. Indy and at least 50 percent interest in four minor league baseball teams: Vancouver of the Pacific Coast League, Birmingham of the Southern League, and Salinas and Visalia of the California League.
Baseball officials, reluctant to allow overseas ownership and slower than the NBA or NFL to venture abroad, stressed that Seattle-area investors, primarily Christopher Larson of Microsoft Corp. and John McCaw, a director of McCaw Communications Cos., will have majority control of the team's voting stock. Under the final deal, Yamauchi is believed to be spending $48 million for the stock and contributing the rest of the $75 million as loans and preferred stock.
"You have less than 50 percent of the equity of the venture from outside North America," Vincent said. "So you have more than 50 percent locally and you have total control in the hands of Mr. Ellis, who is a local resident and a prominent businessman."