DAYTON DAILY NEWS                   Copyright (c) 1997, Dayton Newspapers Inc.DATE: Friday, July 11, 1997                 TAG: 9707110069EDITION: CITY          SECTION: SPORTS      PAGE: 1D SOURCE: By Susan Vinella DAYTON DAILY NEWS                              DAYTON TEAM ON DECK Investor to buy Cubs franchise    Finally, it looks likes Dayton is getting a minor league baseball team.   The Downtown Dayton Partnership announced Thursday that investor SherrieMyers, executive vice president of the Lansing (Mich.) Lugnuts, has signed aletter of intent to buy the Rockford (Ill.) Cubbies franchise and move it todowntown Dayton by April 1999. Neither the Cubbies nor Myers would reveal thepurchase price, but two sources close to the team said it was about $3million.   The sale and relocation of the Cubbies, a Class A Midwest League teamaffiliated with and owned by the Chicago Cubs, has received preliminaryapproval from the Midwest League, according to Myers. She said she expects theleague to formally Ok the deal by the end of the month. The Cincinnati Redsand Major League Baseball must also approve the deal before it is final. Myersis optimistic those approvals and the team purchase will be finalized by Oct.1.  "Everything has fallen in place as expected,'' said Myers, whose husband,Tom Dickson, owns the Lugnuts and has taken part in negotiations to bring ateam to downtown Dayton. "(The letter of intent) just brings baseball one stepcloser to reality in Dayton."   Myers will own the Dayton team because Dickson is not permitted to own twofranchises in the same league.   Under the agreement between Myers and the Cubs, the Cubbies will remainunder the ownership of the Cubs for the remainder of this season. If the saleto Myers goes through as expected, she would take over the team in the falland operate it in Rockford - located about 80 miles north of Chicago - as aCubs affiliate next season. She would move the team to Dayton in 1999.   It is unlikely, however, that the team will resemble the current Cubbies bythe time it arrives in Dayton. The Cubs rights to the team, called a PlayerDevelopment Contract, expires in 1998 - the same year the Cincinnati RedsP.D.C. expires with the Burlington (Iowa) Bees, also of the Midwest League. Atthat time, the Reds and Cubs are free to negotiate their contracts with minorleague team owners in other cities and move their players and affiliationelsewhere. That means the minor leaguers playing for the Cubs in Rockfordmight not be the ones playing in Dayton in two years.   Myers said she can't say for sure that there will be Reds minor leaguersplaying here in 1999 but said "I think it's a logical assumption to make."   Reds managing executive John Allen has said that he can not discuss thepossibility of a Reds affiliate here because the team's current contract withBurlington is legally binding and such discussions could be viewed as illegaltampering. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.   The Cubbies have been owned by the Cubs since 1992. They became a Cubsaffiliate in 1995 and initially saw attendance double from their days as afarm team of the Kansas City Royals ('93-'94) and Montreal Expos ('88-'92).Last year the team drew about 102,000 fans, an average of 1,500 per game - 4thworst in the 14-team league. This year they're on pace to draw slightly morebut Cubs executive vice president Mark McGuire said the lackluster attendanceand  "substandard" stadium - built around an existing ballpark for $1.1million in 1988 - forced them to sell.   The team purchase is one of the last major pieces to the baseball puzzle inDayton. Last week, the city of Dayton voted to finance up to $13.1 million ofa $20-million downtown stadium. In June, the Cincinnati Reds gave Daytonpreliminary approval to bring a Class A team downtown, provided certainconditions were met - two of which were getting a Midwest League team andsecuring stadium financing commitments by Aug. 15.LENGTH:   72 linesILLUSTRATION: MAP:          Rockford, Ill.          Home of the Cubbies          DAYTON DAILY NEWSCATEG: SPORTSSUBJ: DOWNTOWN DAYTON      MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL NA: SHERRIE MYERS    ROCKFORD CUBBIES GEOG: DAYTON ENHANCER: ref5