![]() ![]() In all, it was estimated that it would cost Huizenga between $131 million and $142 million before the Marlins could begin play, not including his partial purchase of Joe Robbie Stadium. And of course, if Huizenga built it, the city’s “Latin and Caribbean population” would come, and “provide a wellspring of fans.” 2 But there is little doubt much of the allure of Miami’s bid to the other owners was Huizenga’s wealth - his net worth in the summer of 1991 was estimated to be between $500 million and $800 million. Suddenly, the fact that Miami was one of the nation’s 20 largest television markets was a major factor. The minor league Miracle’s attendance increased to 700 per game (still low, but better than 1989’s 40 per game) and 114,000 fans went out to Joe Robbie Stadium over two nights in March 1991 to watch the Yankees and the Orioles play. The prospect of professional baseball seemed to excite the city, at least a little. After that, everyone found reasons to support Miami’s bid. Huizenga agreed to pay the entire $95 million franchise fee himself. Wayne Huizenga were suddenly in the picture. What changed? The deep, deep pockets of the group’s owner, H. But Miami became a frontrunner after the South Florida Big League Baseball bidding group was chosen to represent the city’s bid. The rain, the heat, and the lack of fans turned off many baseball observers. The decision became official on July 5, 1991, when the owners from both leagues unanimously approved the two new franchises.Īs the search for expansion cities became serious, Miami had been all but counted out. On June 10, 1991, the ownership groups from Denver and Miami were announced as the winners of the two new franchises. Petersburg/Tampa, Washington, D.C., and Miami. In December 1990 the six finalists for expansion were announced: Buffalo, Denver, Orlando, St. In June of 1990, the National League announced that it would add two teams by 1993. Having faced threats to its monopoly profits from upstart leagues and Congress several times before, the owners relented. The threat of losing their monopoly was heightened when a group calling itself the Professional Baseball Federation announced plans to start a new league with eight or ten teams by luring current major-league stars away. Some owners wanted to stall until a new collective-bargaining agreement was negotiated with the players union and use the carrot of expansion to win other concessions. They conducted studies and held rounds of presentations by competing cities and ownership groups. The owners agreed to expand, at one point planning to increase each league to 16 teams. As other congressional groups had done in the past, the task force pushed major-league baseball to expand or risk losing its antitrust exemption, which protects it from being sued or broken up as an illegal monopoly. Tim Wirth (D) of Colorado and included senators from several states with cities, such as Denver, that had expressed interest in a baseball franchise. At that year’s winter meetings, Commissioner Peter Ueberroth mentioned expansion in his “state of the game” speech, but over the next few years the owners tabled expansion talks, focusing instead on clubs claiming to be in financial trouble and on fighting the players union’s claims of collusion.īy 1987, the US Senate had formed a Task Force on Expansion. In the fall of 1985, 12 different groups presented expansion proposals to a 14-owner committee. ![]() This road began in January of 1984, when major-league baseball announced an eight-member committee to study the possibility of another expansion. The 1991 decision to add the Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins to the major leagues was the end of what the New York Times’s Murray Chass called “the road that began six years, three commissioners, and three league presidents ago.” 1 The National League expansion of 1993 was a long time coming. In just their fifth season of existence, the Marlins became the then-fastest franchise to win a championship in baseball history. ![]() Edgar Renteria of the Florida Marlins celebrates his walk-off single to win Game Seven of the 1997 World Series. ![]()
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