Page 16, january "7 . 1979 -North Shore-News~.

Baseball by the’80's?

Major league baseball in this area by the early _ 1980s? Now that the PNE has been given the go- ahead to try to raise the money to build its projected $160 million Multiplex, there is much

talk to this effect.

Frigid January is still with us, the sap hasn't yet begun to rise in the Louisville

Slugger, the PNE hasn’t yet-

located the first dollar for its grand plan, but. we are inundated with visions of the Yankees and the Red Sox and the Dodgers paying us regular visits.

Toronto Blue Jays general manager Peter Bavasi, in town last weekend for the B.C. Amateur Baseball Association's biennial clinic, touted this area a_as_ future major league territory. So did Bobby Bragan, assistant to baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn. \

Owner Harry Ornest } the Pacific Coast Loaghe

Vancouver Canadians was at °

city hall (12th and Cambie 1a0del) on Monday, painting glowing word pictutes for Jack Volrich, mayor of Flatlands-Across - the - Inlet.

THINKING BASEBALL

. 4 And hours later Volrich

was enthusing over the possibility, plus the desirability of Multiplex

being so designed that - if it {

he materializes

4

-— it can ac- commodate baseball as weil as football and soccer.

One thing he did specify: he's all in favor of,this, only if it doesn’t hike the cost of the PNE concept. Volrich is learning. His on-the-one- hands and his on-the-other- hands are so neatly lined up, he has certainly qualified himself for graduation into provincial or federal politics.

On the other side there is the PNE board, ied ty Erwin

‘Swangard, mover and shaker

by appointment to Erwin Swangard. His idea for re- doing the entire western half of the PNE grounds and putting it under one -roof

brooks no input from . -baseball. He maintains-he has found -

out to his satisfaction that Vancouver's chances of

‘landing major league ball are

about as remote as an end to

the unemployinent problem.

KEEP IT LOW

So why spend, he asks, another $15 million to push the Multiplex roof high enough to accommodate a

_ you might

~ Times.

non-existent major league possibility? He has another concern, too, | to create a structure people in the Hastings East residential area are willing to live with.

Multiplex features a saddle-shaped roof that will tower no more that six storeys above the Hastings and Renfrew level of the PNE grounds

Baseball’s needs are such,

that a revamped structure

would have to be 20 storeys | _high,

like the Seattle. Kingdome. He has a tough enough sell as it is against local citizen opposition. A Kingdome-height structure might invite barricades and shotguns.

One of the constants

‘Tunning through all -the

foregoing -is that everyore

‘ has an axe- to grind and

basically :is putting-forth his case. Objectivity. is not the object of the exercise. .

Given this background, find Leonard Koppett’s speculation a little interesting. Koppett writes sport for the New York His particular ex- pertise is in baseball, a game he covers and which he has written two or three books.

In a recent issue of the Sporting News, he points out

INVENTORY REDUCTION

We are still overstocked with merchandise and must reduce before inventory ene on January 31.

_TEAPOTS

Royal Standard “Mandarin” . Par " Price & Kensington * ‘asstd”

More than 50 types t to choose trom

Booths “Real Old Willow”. Ridgewood’ Heritage”. Price & Kensington. .

. 40% Off _. 30% Off .. 50% Off

. 30% Ott

50% Oft

DINNERWARE

Paragon “Dogwood”

Paragon “Forget-me- not”

Paragon “Elizabeth Rose”

Royal Doulton “Forest Gien”

"3690 Caplinno | Rd. NV. 988-5169

that. while expansion is not on baseball's agenda, market forces will make expansion inevitable in another five years or so.

. He sees this despite the

_ fact the game has never been more popular, with at--

tendance increasing from 30 million to 41 million in the last three years and TV income at an alltime high.

He reasons that the up-

ward trend cann’t continue. In the next three years it will taper off. A labor struggle with the players is expected in 1980. The clubs believe they can make the players retreat, especially in t brand new expense area ' free agentry.

Just another example, he claims, of the owners in- dulging in self-deception. The new players’ agreement will cost them more, not less. This will mean‘a search for more dollar income. The first place to look is network television; the first example to follow is pro football's three-division setup in each conference, producing six winners and a host of wild cards, This in turn produces more playoff games, more meat for television and more T.V. revenue.

‘

Open the door to more teams (each of them paying

ae

ea TER.

market areas for TV to plumb and yet- another boost in TV™ revenue. ae

Bear with me, for Van- couver comes _ into his speculation very shortly. He foresees baseball moving from 26 to 30. teams; 15 in each of the National and American leagues, sub- divided into divisions of five.

So, in his opinion, where

does baseball go find “the new cities? Here's where.

Team 27 in Florida, either ~ Miami or Tampa. Team 28

in New Orleans, where the 80,000 seat Superdome sits. there, waiting.

For team 29 he skips over such American cities as Phoenix, Buffalo, Portland and Indianapolis and writes:

“What about Vancouver? It has some surprising assets. There are natural ties to Montreal and Toronto, giving Canada coast-to-coast interest; a nearby rivalry with Seattle; a West Coast

location to balance regional -

divisions if the A’s Oakland; economic future as trade with the Far East increases. A domed stadium there, under discussio, might turn a ‘sleeper’ into No. 29”.

leave

IT’S GOT TO GO!!!

$10 million or more to join), - producing more

and a dazzling?’

T's just one man’ 's opinion but: he’s - one of the - best: informed . in the gam outside « ‘the “establishme itself... -

’ However,” it’s. continge on a domed stadium that hold. baseball. Meanw don’t ‘hold. . your _ breath. waiting for any kind of domed .stadium --- with’ or’ without baseball. to get off the ground. More on tha Sunday's edition, 7 :

Is sports your business if it is, you can use thi space to reach eve sports-minded person on. the North Shore. Get in:

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