Smulyan Rumor-O-The-Day

Piggybacking on yesterday's rumor that Smulyan was using the DC bid to raise his profile to really buy the Reds comes this from the Dayton Daily News and its highly-respected writer, Hal McCoy.

It's an article about Reds' manager Jerry Narron being offered a contract for next season:

Asked if he wanted assurances that steps would be taken to better position the team to win, he said, "I want to see the Cincinnati Reds great again. Nobody can answer the competitive part as long as the club might be sold, or part of it might be sold."

One potential buyer is Jeff Smulyan, chairman of Emmis Broadcasting in Indianapolis and former owner of the Seattle Mariners. He also is one of the bidders for the Washington Nationals.

Smulyan, who likely could purchase the Reds for half of what the Washington franchise will cost, tried to move the Mariners to Tampa Bay in the early 1990s but was forced to offer the team to buyers who would keep the team in Seattle and it was sold to Nintendo.

While it's nothing new, it is interesting to see the story being reported by one of the Old Guard of the baseball media.

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Update: Apparently his company is freeing up cash. It's probably unrelated, especially because I think he was buying them on his own, as opposed to an association with Emmis, but it's interesting nonetheless.