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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Disparity A Big Deal For Selig Game’s Mogul Sees Support For Touchy Salary-Cap Issue

Associated Press

When Bud Selig spoke before Game 2 of the World Series, it sounded like a salary cap was on his mind.

“The disparity between the clubs is still there,” baseball’s acting commissioner said Sunday night.

As of early September, the latest figures available, payrolls ranged from the New York Yankees at $65.5 million to the Oakland Athletics at $12.6 million.

Cleveland was third at $60.1 million, just behind Baltimore’s $60.4 million. Florida was fourth at $53.8 million, and Marlins owner H. Wayne Huizenga claims his team will lose $30 million, although he hasn’t substantiated it by opening his books.

“We’ve come a long way,” Selig said. “Revenue sharing is a huge help. Is it enough? It’s a little too early to make a judgment, but I think there’s going to have to be more done. I don’t think there’s a doubt.”

In the first year of baseball’s revenue-sharing plan, low-revenue teams are receiving up to $6.6 million in 1997 while high-revenue teams are giving up to $8.4 million. The lowest-revenue teams probably will receive about $8 million in 1998 and $10 million in 1999.

Selig said there has to be “some reasonable cost control.” In the past, that has been a euphemism among owners for a salary cap, and in 1994-95 it caused a 232-day strike that cost owners more than $700 million in operating losses.

“On April 1 every year, you can’t have a situation where in 21, 22, 23 markets fans have no hope,” Selig said.

Huizenga has said he wants to sell the Marlins because he doesn’t think the Florida government will construct a new ballpark as long as he is the owner.

Selig’s Milwaukee Brewers are among the teams who have new parks under construction, along with the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers. The San Francisco Giants will break ground in November.

“Attendance will not increase the disparity, it will exacerbate it,” Selig said.