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Eugene Church · 02-02-2009, 08:51 PM

The Islandian Times

Friday, January 18, 2002

IPA Owners' Meeting Volatile
What Islandian Pro Alliance Commissioner John Banford wanted was a quiet and meaningful discussion of expansion plans for the new pro baseball league, but instead it turned in to a volatile confrontation between the anti-expansion owners and the pro-expansion owners. Anonymous owners at the meeting told The Islandian Times co-chairmen Jock Ewing and Jorge Trujillo revealed a plan that would expand the IPA over a nine-year period. The four-member expansion committee voted unanimously to expand 8 teams at a time beginning five years hence. 2007 would be the first year with 8 teams added each year thereafter until 40 teams were included by 2011. Eventually there would 64 teams in all with 8 eight-team divisions. Expansion franchises would be awarded on the basis of population and financial backing. Each franchise would sell for $1,000,000.

None of this was acceptable to a vocal minority of the owners, Rob Jackson of Forest City, Manny Earl of Sugar Valley and Rip Calkin of La Claire. The expansion committee's proposal was voted down. A two-thirds majority was needed for passage. It failed 15-9 with 16 votes needed for approval.

Unnamed sources at the meeting told The Times that Jackson was the most vocal and stated that the people of Islandia would not tolerate a group of rich owners hoarding franchises. It would be a public relations' nightmare. He pointedly asked Ewing why would franchises go up some much. The original teams only paid $100,000 to get into the league. Charging the new owners 10 times as much was unconscionable.

In order to get some business conducted Commissioner John Banford asked the owners to table expansion to a later date and get on to other less controversial matters. After the meeting the commissioner told BNN that expansion was discussed and that a majority of the owners favored it, but they couldn't agree on all of the details in the plan.

Times baseball analyst Gam Peters reported in his column today that Jackson, Earl and Calkin are beginning to sway more moderate owners to a pro-expansion stance. Public opinion carries a lot of weight with a majority of the IPA owners. The owners do not want to alienate the public and its support of their league. Peters said while most of owners really don't want to expand, they may have to do it for the good of the sport.

02-02-2009, 08:51 PM	#667
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,889	The Islandian Times Friday, January 18, 2002 IPA Owners' Meeting Volatile What Islandian Pro Alliance Commissioner John Banford wanted was a quiet and meaningful discussion of expansion plans for the new pro baseball league, but instead it turned in to a volatile confrontation between the anti-expansion owners and the pro-expansion owners. Anonymous owners at the meeting told The Islandian Times co-chairmen Jock Ewing and Jorge Trujillo revealed a plan that would expand the IPA over a nine-year period. The four-member expansion committee voted unanimously to expand 8 teams at a time beginning five years hence. 2007 would be the first year with 8 teams added each year thereafter until 40 teams were included by 2011. Eventually there would 64 teams in all with 8 eight-team divisions. Expansion franchises would be awarded on the basis of population and financial backing. Each franchise would sell for $1,000,000. None of this was acceptable to a vocal minority of the owners, Rob Jackson of Forest City, Manny Earl of Sugar Valley and Rip Calkin of La Claire. The expansion committee's proposal was voted down. A two-thirds majority was needed for passage. It failed 15-9 with 16 votes needed for approval. Unnamed sources at the meeting told The Times that Jackson was the most vocal and stated that the people of Islandia would not tolerate a group of rich owners hoarding franchises. It would be a public relations' nightmare. He pointedly asked Ewing why would franchises go up some much. The original teams only paid $100,000 to get into the league. Charging the new owners 10 times as much was unconscionable. In order to get some business conducted Commissioner John Banford asked the owners to table expansion to a later date and get on to other less controversial matters. After the meeting the commissioner told BNN that expansion was discussed and that a majority of the owners favored it, but they couldn't agree on all of the details in the plan. Times baseball analyst Gam Peters reported in his column today that Jackson, Earl and Calkin are beginning to sway more moderate owners to a pro-expansion stance. Public opinion carries a lot of weight with a majority of the IPA owners. The owners do not want to alienate the public and its support of their league. Peters said while most of owners really don't want to expand, they may have to do it for the good of the sport. Last edited by Eugene Church; 02-06-2009 at 11:41 PM.