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Red Sox Could Go To Out-Of-Towners

November 27, 2001 / 6:45 AM EST / AP

Former Sen. George Mitchell, who has spent his post-Senate life negotiating peace in the Middle East and Northern Ireland, is showing an interest in another unstable situation: the sale of the Boston Red Sox.

A group led by television producer Tom Werner and Maine ski resort mogul Les Otten announced Monday it has brought Mitchell, a longtime Red Sox fan, into its investment group.

"We are thrilled to welcome one of the most respected men in baseball circles to our team of investors," said Otten, the founding partner of the newly renamed New England Sports Ventures.

Meanwhile, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday that Charles Dolan, the billionaire founder of Cablevision Systems Corp., will be joined in his bid by John McMullen, the founder of a ship engineering company who is a former owner of the Houston Astros and was a limited partner in the New York Yankees.

Last year, McMullen, an 82-year-old Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, sold the New Jersey Devils hockey franchise for $175 million to YankeeNets, a sports group headed by Yankee owner George Steinbrenner.

Mitchell was part of a blue-ribbon commission that studied the economic future of baseball. He served in the Senate from 1980 to 1995.

The Yawkey Trust is expected to announce the winner of the bidding for its 53 percent stake by the end of the month, and several groups have been adding deep-pocketed partners to bolster their bids in recent weeks.

Werner's group has reportedly also brought in John Henry, the billionaire owner trying to sell the Florida Marlins. And the Globe has reported that investment banking firm Lehman Brothers is joining South Boston waterfront land owner Frank McCourt's bid.

The Yawkey trust announced a year ago that it would sell its share of the team, which is valued at up to $400 million.

The team has refused to name the bidders, but a number have been identified. In addition to the Werner/Otten, Dolan and McCourt groups, they include: New York lawyer Miles Prentice, who failed in a bid to buy the Kansas City Royals; concession companies Delaware North, owned by Jeremy Jacobs, and Aramark Corp.; and local concessionaire Joseph O'Donnell and mall developer Steve Karp.