Disney Can Open Books for Suitors

The Walt Disney Co. has received permission to share the Angels’ confidential financial data with several potential buyers, including Alabama businessman Donald Watkins, Commissioner Bud Selig said Monday.

Watkins met with Disney officials March 22 to discuss his interest in purchasing the Angels. He has submitted a preliminary offer of $250 million for the team, but sources close to the negotiations confirm the offer is neither binding nor exclusive, allowing Watkins to continue talks with other teams and Disney to continue talks with other suitors.

Watkins is believed to have offered between $125 and $150 million for the Minnesota Twins, but Minnesota owner Carl Pohlad has said he would prefer to sell to local buyers.

Baseball rules require owners to receive permission to open their books to potential buyers, a step that would precede any sale.

Selig would not identify the Angels’ other suitors and would say only that Disney has been granted permission to open the team’s books several times “in the past year.”

Former commissioner Peter Ueberroth, whose investment group was outbid by Disney for the Angels in 1995, said Monday his partnership remains interested in buying a professional sports franchise but is not interested in the Angels at the present time.

Another group, led by former Madison Square Garden president Dave Checketts, is believed to have explored--and for now rejected--the possibility of buying the Angels and Mighty Ducks. In November, negotiations to sell the Angels to John Henry, then the owner of the Florida Marlins, collapsed.

Watkins, who has pursued the purchase of a major league team since last summer, met with Selig for the first time March 30.

“We had a very pleasant visit,” Selig said.

*

Several fans expressed disappointment upon entering Edison Field for the first games of the season and discovering that the Angels had discontinued the “Power Angels” promotion, a so-called “frequent fan” program that rewarded fans with merchandise and other free prizes based on the number of games attended.

The Angels used registration information to compile a data base of 45,000 fans, but spokesman Tim Mead said the promotion no longer was cost-effective because 90% of the fans in the data bank had become “inactive” ticket buyers over the three years of the program.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’

KEVIN

APPIER

(0-0, 3.60)

vs.

MARINERS’

JOHN

HALAMA

(0-0, 0.00)

Edison Field, 7

TV--Channel 9.

Radio--KPLS (830), XPRS (1090).

Update--Infielder Benji Gil, who suffered a severely sprained left ankle Friday, remained on crutches Monday, and Manager Mike Scioscia said Gil’s stay on the disabled list could last significantly longer than the minimum 15 days. Reliever Dennis Cook, in his second rehabilitation appearance, pitched one perfect inning for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Monday.

Tickets--(714) 663-9000.