Wednesday, March 24, 1999
Schott offered new deadline
Sale of Reds not imminent
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
At least on Opening Day, the Reds will be under current management.
Major League Baseball, looking for an end to the club's sale stalemate, has offered an extension to Marge Schott that gives her 90 more days to secure a deal, sources said Tuesday.
Schott, Reds CEO and president, is expected to voluntarily sign the document like she did last December, when her arrangement with MLB was extended to March 31.
That means John Allen continues to run the club as managing executive until June 30, as he has since Schott was suspended from running the Reds day-to-day on June 12, 1996 for insensitive behavior.
But Schott's effort to sell continues to be complicated by the silence of her limited partners.
They have the right to match her $65 million offer to Larry Dolan, but they don't consider the Cleveland attorney's letter-of-intent to buy control of the club with the purchase of 5.5 of her 6.5 shares a formal offer.
Those close to the deal say the letter-of-intent is contingent on Dolan working out a deal with the limited partners.
If Dolan buys the team without a deal with the limiteds, he risks paying premium money to have control only until Dec. 31, 2000. That's the expiration date of the Reds' limited partnership, when all limited partners become equal.
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