Baseball Owners Ready To Pick Mlb President

Though they still have no plans to hire a commissioner without a new labor agreement, baseball owners apparently have hired a business and marketing executive who will have the title of president of Major League Baseball.

People in and out of baseball said Tuesday that Arlen Kentarian is the man, and one person said he will assume the position in January. He is currently chief operating officer of entertainment and marketing at Radio City Music Hall.

Kentarian did not return a telephone call. Bud Selig, the acting commissioner, declined to comment, saying: “We’re restructuring the marketing department and we’re going to be aggressive in the whole marketing area, but there have been no final decisions. We’re not ready to announce anything.”

Kentarian, who worked at NFL Properties before joining Radio City Music Hall, has been mentioned in baseball circles for perhaps the past year. He was first said to be in line to head Major League Baseball Properties, but his title and responsibilities have grown in the interim.

At one point, one person said, Kentarian told baseball officials he didn’t want to take the job until they had a new labor agreement. At the rate the labor situation is progressing, if he does begin in January, there may still be no agreement.

The person who said Kentarian is scheduled to start in January said he is committed to remaining at Radio City until the end of the year. In his baseball role, he apparently will be in charge of properties, business affairs and international matters.

Selig also said no final decision had been made on the hiring of a new chief labor lawyer to represent management in negotiations with the players. He said he is talking to “a fair number of people.” A person familiar with the search said a leading candidate is Randy L. Levine, New York City’s commissioner of labor relations.

The person said Levine has had serious discussions with Selig and others in management, but they have reached no agreement. Levine, the person said, hasn’t decided whether he wants to leave the Rudolph Giuliani administration.

If he is hired, the person said, Levine will become the owners’ principal negotiator. When he was in private practice, Levine was retained by George Steinbrenner to do legal work for the New York Yankees. Levine attended owners’ meetings for the club.