I have altered the deal. Pray that I do not alter it any further.
Posted on 12/15/2004 7:08:37 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Washington's new baseball team shut down business and promotional operations indefinitely Wednesday as its move to the nation's capital teetered on the brink of collapse.
The decision by major league baseball followed the District of Columbia Council's decision Tuesday night to require private financing for at least half the cost of building a new stadium. The September agreement to move the Montreal Expos to Washington called for a ballpark fully financed by government money.
"Yes, I think baseball is now in jeopardy," Mayor Anthony A. Williams said.
A previously scheduled news conference to unveil new uniforms was called off and fans who bought tickets to watch the renamed Nationals next season at RFK Stadium can get refunds, said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer.
Baseball will not resume talks with other cities until after Dec. 31, the deadline in the agreement for Washington to put a ballpark financing law in place.
"In the meantime, the club's baseball operations will proceed, but its business and promotional activities will cease until further notice," DuPuy said.
He did not address where the team would play its 2005 home schedule if the deal with Washington falls through. It remains unclear whether baseball would move the franchise to RFK Stadium on a temporary basis, remain at Montreal's Olympic Stadium or go to another city.
Williams had signed the deal nearly three months ago, and publicly celebrated the return of major league baseball to Washington, which hasn't had a team since 1971.
"We had a deal. I believe the deal was broken, and the dream of 33 years is now once again close to dying. I would say close," Williams said at a news conference Wednesday.
Council Chair Linda W. Cropp proposed the amendment, which was approved 10-3 after she threatened to withhold support from the overall package, which then passed In a 7-6 vote.
"I am not trying to kill the deal," Cropp said. "I'm putting some teeth in it because I'm really disappointed with what I got from major league baseball."
The September agreement estimated the cost of building the ballpark and refurbishing RFK Stadium at $435 million, but critics claimed it would cost far more. The proposal, as initially approved by the council on Nov. 30, called for Washington to issue up to $531 million in bonds to cover the cost.
"I am very confident that we are going to be able to work through this and that we will have baseball here," said Councilman Jack Evans, who supported Williams on the original financing plan.
Bill Hall, chairman of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission's baseball committee, said, "We intend to deal with MLB's concerns and stadium cost issues in a way that keeps baseball in Washington, and do so over the next week or so."
Some of the communities that had lost out in the bidding for the team prepared to resume their efforts to lure the franchise.
"I don't think we've ever stopped," Norfolk group head Will Somerindyke Jr. said. "We always wanted to keep this area an option. If the opportunity arises for the Expos again, we are going to be standing there along with everyone else.
"Whether we could get something done by next year, I think that's a stretch," he added. "It would be very, very tough."
Somerindyke's organization has returned the deposits it collected on nearly 10,000 season tickets and almost 100 luxury boxes during its drive to get the Expos. He didn't think it would be difficult to get those deposits back.
Officials in Portland, Ore., were uncertain how to interpret the developments.
"We need to wait to see how Major League Baseball assesses this so we can respond," said Drew Mahalic of the Oregon Sports Authority.
Northern Virginia's group had hoped to build a ballpark near Dulles International Airport.
"We hope that the District of Columbia will be able to fulfill the terms of its agreement and succeed in bringing Major League Baseball back to this region," Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority spokesman Brian Hannigan said.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman went to baseball's winter meetings last weekend trying to attract attention to his efforts to lure a team. But he could not offer a firm stadium plan.
"It's just a glint in my eye, at this point," he said.
Washington has lost teams twice before: The original Senators became the Minnesota Twins after the 1960 season and the expansion Senators transformed into the Texas Rangers following the 1971 season.
"Here we are back where we were five years ago - the nation's capital, the center of the world, a city of possibility, aspiration and ambition and opportunity, and a city that cannot do what it says it's going to do," Williams said. "I'm saddened that we can go so far in five years and step back so far in five minutes."
The Expos 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.
DC may be a cesspool but they made the right decision. If the Expos want to move there, they should raise the funds to build and maintain a stadium. The taxpayers should not be on the hook, period. I applaud the DC City Council for turning down another recipient of corporate welfare.
The Expos have been living on welfare for decades, MLB should have just disbanded the team. It's impossible to raise the money, because the Expos are still owned by the rest of the teams. I live in Virginia Beach and a lot of people here were very relieved when Norfolk "lost" to DC.
.
But,
...wasn't RFK Stadium good enough for the last Washington, D.C. Major League Baseball Team..?
Thought so.
.
I think Dubya should use his influence with MLB to award the franchise to Puerto Rico permanently.
Why didn't they stay in Canada? The socialism was not good enough for them in Montreal?
I would have LOVED to hear the DC Council tell them:
"You don't like the deal ? Fine. Play elsewehere, because Dc **owns** RFK, and if you want to play there, it's 10 million a game, for an entire season, and cash in advance, please. . ."
I want to know why they won't be the Senators. Doesn't tradition mean anything? It's kind of a slap in the face at all those great, old Senator teams of yesteryear.
Oh wait.
Nevermind.
Don't believe this deal is dead, although I wish it were.
There is a lot of money involved here.
And where there is a lot of money there are often "solutions".
Would not be at all surprised if the members of the DC Council can be "talked" into realizing the benefits of MLB to the DC area.
After all these Council persons are "reasonable" people who want the best for DC.
That is what makes it such a wonderful, crime free, place to live.
Who do you know can afford to pay $285 per seat? Certainly not the wellfare queens in DC.
The stadium probably can't seat more than 50k, so estimating 35 thousand attendance per game (Highly unlikely), you could never recover 10 million per game.
Oh, and I forgot to ask how much money RFK stadium makes in the ABSENCE of Baseball?
I'm not saying DC should build the stadium mind you.
Some towns have really gotten burned on that approach.
Others, Like Seattle got a great deal, being paid back
on time, and drawing way more in tax revenues than ever
expected. It was thought that King County would eat a
great deal of this debt, but it never happened.
It depends on what's in it to safeguard the taxpayers from the possibility the baseball team may not make back the public investment. If the team would help the city - perhaps an upgrade of roads and city owned facilities might be called for. But it shouldn't be a sweetheart deal in which the taxpayers are left holding the bag if it goes south.
Rename the team the North American Gypsies. Let them do a homestand at RFK Stadium, then move to Puerto Rico, Portland, Las Vegas and anywhere else that'll have them. The city that produces the best attendance or revenue in 2005 gets to keep the team in 2006.
I have altered the deal. Pray that I do not alter it any further.
Maybe a 21st century House of David?
I wonder how much money peter angelos (baltimore orioles owner) paid the council to do this.
You can always take the Rangers back.
Please.
Sincerely,
B-Chan
(Disappointed 1972-2005)
It's Bush's fault
Tijuana Toro's,
Think about it, A Mexican baseball team in the Big Leagues, You'd be selling merchandise hand over fist, a direct pipeleine into Latin Talent, just south of San Diego,Amigo
Univision or Telemundo contracts.....
Sheer Genius, If I could only get my hands on a few investors........
I trhink it'd be great for the DC area to have a baseball team, and I think the market is easily the best market for a team in the country, at least at the present (Las Vegas is tiny but growing fast!). The market is twice the size of Portland, and growing at an above-average rate. The notion of a team going to the third world (San Juan or Monterrey) is a sick joke designed to get DC Mayor Anthony Williams nervous.
BUT come on, this was a terrible deal. That DC would have to pay 100% to bring a growing, wealthy, top 10 market is nuts. And then they don't even get to use the stadium? The Nationals would have exclusive rights to a stadium they got for free! Any other event money would go to the Nationals, not to DC!
One way or another, baseball is staying is headed to the DC area for the next three years. If they don't strike a deal, by the time the three years are up, the team will have lost more than its entire value. No one will go to see a team that is leaving in just three years. No one. If it ain't DC, then it's Virginia, and Virginia ain't shelling out a dime.
Anthony Williams may be politically moderate by DC standards, but the man is dummer than mayonnaise.
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