With every baseball work stoppage, groups catering to angry fansspring up like dandelions. Most get weeded out after the owners andplayers plant new seeds of friendship.
This time, Greg Halpern hopes his grass-roots Sports Fans UnitedFront will continue to grow, not only until this current dispute isresolved, but for when the next one comes along in four years.
"Down the road, I hope we will be the third party innegotiations," said Halpern, a former international martial-artschampion and author whose group is based in Northbrook. "I know theowners are going to laugh at me now because we have fewer than 1,000members. But we'd like to have 8,000 to 10,000 by the end of theyear, and that many people can make a difference."
Halpern hopes his group will be able to help lower ticketprices, concessions and parking to all sporting events. In exchange,it would agree not to boycott games.
"I know many people think the organization is a pipe dream, butour society has been built on many of those wild and crazy dreams,"Halpern said. "Just look at where professional athletes' salarieshave gone in the past 10 years."
Unlike Sports Fans United, which is based in New York, Halpern'sgroup would use legalized "blackmail" to get its way. The New Yorkgroup does not believe in boycotts. Instead, it is working to getbaseball's antitrust exemption overthrown.
"Oh, no, we would hold boycotts," Halpern said. "You have toboycott. Anything short of a boycott, to me, doesn't make astatement.
"We'd target days. Let's say if Comiskey Park expected to fillup for a game but had 4,000 or 5,000 empty seats (of boycottingfans). That would be a statement. What have we got to lose anymore?Fans have to take a major (financial) hit to go to a game and see abunch of overpaid guys sloughing off."
Halpern knows professional athletes, having worked with many inrecent years on the psychological aspects of sports. He thinks healso knows fans, whom he said are angry at being ignored by bothowners and players in all sports.
Sports Fans United Front, which Halpern said has applied fornon-profit status with the state, charges $10 for membership to covercosts and send out membership cards and newsletters. The address isP.O. Box 1073, Northbrook, IL 60065. The telephone number for ashort recording is (708) 949-0115.
Halpern also is encouraging fans from other cities to join.Someday, he hopes to have a national network of people power. It'snot a unique concept, just one that never has succeeded once theplayers are back at work.
Most of these groups have come and gone without making any moreimpact than a career minor-leaguer on a major league pennant race.But Halpern hopes his "union" will stay together to fight escalatingprices in baseball and other sports.
"Does this ever end?" he asked. "Not until the price is morethan people can afford. That's simple Economics 101, supply anddemand. . . . There are a lot of angry people out there. The peopleon the street don't like the owners, but they don't necessarily blamethe owners.
"The question I would have for the owners is: When the strike isresolved, would you lower prices?"
Halpern knows the answer without asking. So he wants to startworking now, knowing the monumental odds he is facing with owners,players and apathetic fans.
"The argument is as old as the hills that the fans will comeback," Halpern said. "But there is a growing number of dissenters.We want to be the third party at the negotiating table. We want abetter deal for us. Fans have got to start thinking aboutthemselves. It's time to stand up."
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