Monday, November 16, 1998

BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

While Marge Schott seeks a buyer for the Reds, Cincinnati is already home to a baseball owner who has built four ballparks, won five championships and made money.

Frederic H. Mayerson isn't interested in making a bid for his hometown Reds just yet. But that's not to say Mayerson, a venture capitalist and real estate developer whose Mayerson Group includes a minor-league conglomerate known as United Sports Ventures, isn't intrigued.

One reason Mayerson hasn't stepped up is because the Reds' limited partners have. They have the right to match any bid outside the partnership and have sent signals they will.

Any potential outside bidder has been described as a "stalking horse" for the limiteds; a term defined as a horse or figure of a horse behind which a hunter hides stalking game.

"It's a complicated deal for obvious and not so obvious reasons," Mayerson said. "The limiteds have the wherewithal and the opportunity if they want it. Have you ever seen what a stalking horse does? It's hard work. We have very high regard for the limiteds. They're talented people. I know they can bring in a formidable management team."

But there is some activity on the sale front. Business insiders say William O. DeWitt Jr., the Cincinnati businessman who runs the St. Louis Cardinals, and a group that could include sons of former Reds owner William J. Williams have expressed interest in paying about $50 million for the 5.5 shares Schott has on the market. Schott wants $78 million.

For now, Mayerson is passing on a bid despite his credentials and even though one of his partners, Dan Staton, has a good relationship with Schott. In 1997, Staton accompanied Schott to the All-Star Game in Cleveland, reportedly to discuss the Mayerson group buying into the Reds.

Mayerson, who won't reveal his age, is the majority owner of three baseball teams and three hockey teams in the minor leagues. Staton, James Gould and Rick Steiner are Cincinnatians with shares in the Mayerson Group, run day-to-day by New Yorker Eric Margenau.

Mayerson's Double-A team in Mobile, Ala., (a Padres affiliate) and Single-A team in Columbia, S.C., (Mets) were named the top two minor-league franchises in Baseball America's power rankings after they won their leagues.

But that's the minors.

"Today, the ability of an individual owner to keep up financially is extremely difficult," Mayerson said. "The Jerry Busses, the Ted Turners are becoming dinosaurs. You look at Fox and Disney getting into ownership and it's the only way to underwrite the kind of dollars you have to put up to build a potential championship team."

If Mayerson got involved in the Reds, he would want to collaborate with a partner who has "a pipeline" - not necessarily a corporate giant, but another entity that would give a small-market team financial breathing room.

"If you got in, you'd get in for only two reasons," Mayerson said. "To build a potential championship team and still make a profit."

Mayerson thinks it can happen here with "good business sense, great enthusiasm, loyalty to hometown and deep pockets."

Mayerson is proud his minor-league franchises have made seven-figure profits in an industry where, he says, 25 percent of teams lose money.

For now, Mayerson is loaded with projects and hopes to add two more minor-league teams next year. But might he ever be interested in the Reds?

"My front door is always open," Mayerson said. "Who knows?"

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