Posted on 12/15/2004 7:04:10 AM PST by ZGuy
WASHINGTON - Baseball fans in the nation's capital might not have long to cheer their new team. The District of Columbia Council voted 7-6 Tuesday night to approve legislation that would finance construction of a ballpark. But it contained a provision that could cause the baseball commissioner's office to reopen the search for a long-term home for the Expos franchise, which has been tentatively renamed the Nationals.
The legislation was amended to require private financing for at least half the stadium construction costs, a provision not contained in the September agreement between baseball and Washington Mayor Anthony A. Williams.
"We will review the amendments and the legislation as passed and have a response (Wednesday)," said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer.
One response came almost immediately: The team postponed a news conference scheduled for Wednesday to unveil its new uniforms. No explanation was given.
"I am not trying to kill the deal," said council chair Linda W. Cropp, who introduced the private financing measure. "I'm putting some teeth in it because I'm really disappointed with what I got from Major League Baseball."
The amendment passed on a 10-3 vote after Cropp threatened to withhold support from the overall package if the provision wasn't approved. Cropp said she didn't think the change violated the city's agreement with baseball, but would pressure Williams to find a private financier.
Williams refused to answer questions after the vote.
"We'll have to see how baseball reacts," said Councilman Jack Evans, a baseball proponent. But he said he expects the council will have to change the legislation to keep the deal alive.
"We'll have until the end of the year to change this," Evans said.
City Administrator Robert Bobb said city negotiators were talking with baseball officials, but he didn't expect the owners to accept the change.
If the law stands, baseball's most likely response would be to have the team play the 2005 season at Washington's RFK Stadium while baseball's search committee resumes negotiations with cities that want the team.
One option could be Las Vegas, which was among the cities competing for the Expos and is still lobbying for a team. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman campaigned at last week's winter meetings, arriving accompanied by showgirls wearing feathered headdresses.
Baseball opponents in Washington said the change makes the deal more equitable.
"All we're asking for is private financing for half the stadium," said Councilman Adrian Fenty, who voted against the final legislation. "That shouldn't be a problem."
The Montreal Expos (news) became the first major league team outside the United States when they started play in 1969, but attendance at Olympic Stadium slumped over the past decade and the franchise was bought by the other 29 teams before the 2002 season. In 2003 and 2004, some of the team's home games were moved to Puerto Rico to raise revenue.
From the start, baseball owners insisted a publicly financed stadium for the team be a component of any move.
When the council gave its initial approval to the law on Nov. 30, it called for the city to issue $531 million in bonds to finance the plan. Baseball owners approved the Expos' move Dec. 2. on the condition that financing be put in place consistent with the deal, and that arrangements to prepare RFK Stadium for use in 2005 satisfied baseball commissioner Bud Selig.
Washington's new team would start play April 4 at Philadelphia and play its home opener April 14 against Arizona at RFK Stadium.
Monterrey, Mexico; Norfolk, Va.; Northern Virginia; Portland, Ore.; and San Juan, Puerto Rico, also tried to land the Expos.
She is getting what she needs from Angelos.
Good analysis. The city has lost all cred with Jack Kent Cook fiasco. It has taken them over 12 years now to lure a team back.
now if the city screws this up, they will really have a tough time luring in a team.
Well, I'm not so sure. Local politicians are usually pretty sneaky customers. Cropp's never going to admit that this was her plan all along, nor would it have come out before the reporters. (Frankly, it may not have been a plan, but merely a result or a spur of the moment thought which she just went with.) But she's also on record saying that she thought that the mayor should renegotiate with MLB on this issue.
Who knows. The point is, though, that this thing is not over yet. I'd like to see another team within that area, as I travel to DC often and like baseball. DC or Northern Va. Either would be okay with me.
now if the city screws this up, they will really have a tough time luring in a team.
Thanks. I don't live in the DC Metro area, so I don't have a dog in the fight. I travel there quite a bit, so I was hoping for either DC or Northern Va. to get the team. Truth be told, I though it would have gone smoother with it being in Northern Va., because you can never count on big-city politics not gumming up the works...
No Va. Ditto.
If Florida or the Expos went to LV and played in the NL West, how would you align the rest of the teams? I would think move Pittsburgh to the NL East and either move Colorado to the Central or leave them in the West. One division is going to have six teams, anyway.
Randy Johnson? ;)
That's exactly the way it should be done: Colorado to the Central, Pittsburgh to the East.
No doubt you are right. But the agreement to move the team to DC requires 100% public financing. That will make it easier for MLB, the team's current owner, to sell the team. If DC doesn't want to put up 100%, then they should have said to MLB, "no, thank you," so MLB could move on to a municipality which would pay 100%. Or, DC should find that other person who is willing to pay MLB what it wants, and pay for half the stadium. They shouldn't, however, be reneging on the agreement, which it appears they might be doing here.
Would you be willing cough up $350 million for a franchise that has been left for dead by MLB? And if you could get past that, would you then pay an additional $150 million to pay for half the park? When it's all said and done this thing is going to cost somebody upwards of half a BILLION dollars! Would you want to sink that kind of money into a place where the city council has a long history of screwing over team owners? I wouldn't. No way. If I were an investor there would need to be SIGNIFICANT public funding before I went anywhere NEAR this deal.
Rich people don't get to be rich because they make stupid financial deals.
Exactly right. The Bucs and Phils not being in the NL East together is just unnatural.
Amen. I would use this event to pull the team to northern VA.
Apparently DC still welches on its deals.
Thing is, I'm not sure how many other options there are besides DC. The city council isn't going to allow the team to use RFK for a couple/few years if the team is going to go somewhere else. Going back to Puerto Rico for a few seasons would be a money loser and I don't think there's another city with a ready-to-play ballpark (I'd think that Harbor Park in Norfolk is too small and couldn't be expanded quickly enough for an April 05 start).
We're seeing a VERY high stakes game of chicken being played here. It'll be interesting to see who blinks first.
Then it ought to be the Expos, Nationals, whatever that go. That way, the NL East just replaces one whipping boy with another.
LV is a problem for any professional league because of legalized gambling.
I wasn't saying one person should do it, but rather a group of people investing less money. D.C. has seen what an arena can do (think of the new arena near China Town) for business and tax revenue, so in the end, the city council will not want to screw over the owners.
Wanna bet? The DC City Council as a whole NEVER wanted a baseball team in DC. Mayor Williams did, and he had to move heaven and earth to get it done. He negotiated on behalf of the City Council, but now at the 11th hour they're going back on what they agreed to because in reality they never wanted the team to begin with.
Cropp is killing the deal.
That was true back in the Mafia days, but since gambling is controlled by a much nastier corporate Mafia these days, the risk of corrupting players is a lot smaller. There is gambling in some form or another all over the country - since Las Vegas has now transcended its previous incarnation as just a gambling town, there is no good reason why it should be barred from having professional sports franchises. Especially since any team put there is a guaranteed money-maker - a new ballpark on the Strip would attract fans from all over the country to see their home teams in Vegas. They would sell out every game.
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