MILWAUKEE — Bud Selig says the Milwaukee Brewers' bad season isn't hurting his crusade to contract baseball teams for the good of the game.

        The baseball commissioner and other executives have been touring the country lately to present ownership's case for changes to improve the industry's health. Those include additional revenue sharing and a luxury tax.

        Last winter, Selig tried unsuccessfully to get rid of two money-losing teams, and he hasn't backed off on his insistence that contraction is needed.

        So, wherever he goes, he's sure to hear about the irony in which both Montreal and Minnesota, which were slated for contraction last winter before court challenges scuffled those plans, are doing well on the field while his family's Brewers aren't.

        Selig said that's beside the point.

        “It's an unrelated issue,” he said. “Contraction was about cities and markets that weren't producing revenue and didn't have a hope of producing revenue. It doesn't have to do with how people are playing on the field.

        “With all due respect, we're trying to get a new stadium in Minnesota tonight,” Selig said Friday night while attending the Cubs-Brewers game at Miller Park. “Both teams, the Vikings and Twins, said they need a new stadium. They can't survive and that's the same thing in Montreal.”

        Selig put the voting rights to his shares of the Brewers in a blind trust when he became commissioner several years ago and the club is now run by his daughter, Wendy Selig-Prieb.

        The Brewers won just 12 of their first 40 games and attendance at Miller Park, site of this summer's All-Star game, has been down dramatically with only two sellouts — on opening day and again Saturday night for the Cubs.

        Without specifying which ones, Selig said between six and eight teams could go belly up without changes in the labor accord, which expires after this season.

        “Those of us who care about the game have to understand (competitive balance) is a problem,” he said.

        Selig said he was disappointed players have begun talking publicly about a possible strike date in August.

        “I'm sorry for that because I don't think it adds anything. I know the fans don't want to hear that,” Selig said. “I've asked owners not to do that. So much of that went on over the years that I just think we need to avoid that. We need to make a deal. We need to do it at the table. We need to do it behind closed doors.

        “Anything that intensifies feelings and adds more tension to the equation is, frankly, not very productive and doesn't help any. I hope we can turn the rhetoric down and get back to work.”

        And Selig said he was especially saddened by the talk of a strike as his hometown of Milwaukee prepares for the All-Star game for the first time since 1975.

        “It is disappointing and I find it sad because I told everybody a year ago, while we may disagree on the issues, we're not going to get personal. And we've lived up to our end of the bargain,” Selig said of ownership. “I don't think threatening anybody, getting personal, does anybody any good.

        “The game is going to be played here and it should be a great event for Milwaukee and Wisconsin. I'm very confident of that.”

        Selig said he believes the union and owners will put aside their differences this summer and avoid the sport's ninth work stoppage since 1972.

        “I'm confident when we get everybody back to the table we'll be OK,” he said. “I'm an optimist by nature and we all understand, both sides, we were lucky. We had Cal Ripken in '95, we had Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire in '98 and the game rose to a renaissance nobody could have dreamed of.

        “We've got to keep working on that.”

Reds 7, Cards 3 Reds box, runs Reds' final game tickets sell out in under an hour Reds Q&A with John Fay Say it ain't so Armed for the long haul Handicapping the NL Central race Cinergy Countdown No. 27: Aug. 17, 2001 Clutch double ends Clark's 2-for-26 skid Down on the farms Pineda heats up in bullpen Reds chatter The week ahead Durazo's big night shatters team records Legislature approves Twins stadium bill Prior's debut Wednesday at Wrigley Field Selig says Brewers' bad season not hurting his crusade John Fay's MLB Power Rankings Louisville 4, Ottawa 1 NL roundup AL roundup Notes from Saturday's games

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