'84 Chronology-Federal Case

Event Date: August 28th, 1984

Event Description: Federals to Baltimore?

Source: United Press International

A local investor says he needs only the approval of Mayor William Schaefer to bring the Washington Federals of the U.S. Football League to Baltimore, but says it is uncertain if he can win that approval, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

The Baltimore Evening Sun reported that Richard Sammis, a car dealer and one of 10 local investors trying to buy the lowly Federals, said Monday night Schaefer's OK would provide the impetus to close the deal.

“It's up to him to say, “I support your group,” and we'd have a team here tomorrow,” Sammis told The Evening Sun. “But my people are not going to fight the mayor.”

Sammis told the newspaper he believes Schaefer would prefer to have the Philadelphia Stars move to Baltimore. Stars owner Myles Tanenbaum has said he has no interest in moving his club now that the league has committed to remaining in the spring for the foreseeable future.

The NFL Colts departed Baltimore for Indianapolis earlier this year.

“Our opinion is the mayor wants the Stars here because he feels they're one of the top teams and if there's a merger (between the USFL and NFL), then he'd be back in the NFL. But that's not necessarily true,” Sammis said.

Schaefer is currently out of the country and not available for comment. Sammis could not be reached by United Press International.

A deal to sell the Federals and move the team to Miami fell through recently following the demise of the Miami ownership group. Team owners also have met with a Florida group about moving the team to Orlando, according to Carl Hirsch, a general partner with the Federals.

Hirsch acknowledged he and his partner, Milton Maltz, are in favor of moving or selling the team to Baltimore, where they have franchise rights. But in published comments he did not indicate that a deal to bring the Federals to Baltimore was close.

“We're talking to a number of groups in Baltimore,” he told The Evening Sun. “So far, nobody has come up with a realistic proposal.”

Story-(UPI)