pushed Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent to expand to Florida. Finalization of expansion plans In June 1991, the expansion committee accepted the bids of the Miami and Denver groups to debut in 1993. Expansion was approved unanimously by all teams in July 1991. The Denver group chose to call their franchise the Colorado Rockies, the same name used as the National Hockey League franchise that played in Denver from 1976 to 1982. The Miami group chose to call themselves the Florida Marlins to broaden their fanbase to the entire state, while reviving the nickname of a defunct minor league team. An expansion draft to stock both franchises was set for November 1992. Though previous expansions allowed the drafting of players from the same league only, Vincent declared that the American League would receive $42 million of the National League's $190 million in expansion revenue so that the AL would provide players in the National League expansion draft. In an attempt to win support in the American League and balance the vote, Vincent decreed that the AL owners were entitled to 22% of the $190 million take. This decision marked the first time in expansion history that leagues were required to share expansion revenue or provide players for another league's expansion draft. Vincent said the owners expanded to raise money to pay their collusion debt. The Tampa Bay Baseball Group sued MLB for allegedly reneging on an agreement to grant an expansion team to Tampa. The suit was settled in 2003, five years after Tampa's major league team, the Devil Rays (now simply the Rays), began play in the American League. See also 1961 Major League Baseball expansion 1962 Major League Baseball expansion 1969 Major League Baseball expansion 1977 Major League Baseball expansion 1998 Major League Baseball expansion References Expansion Expansion Expansion Major League Baseball expansion