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.
Why would anyone want to put a team in San Juan? It's dirt poor, muggy, and not much bigger than Portland.
Who would be the mascot in Tijuana? The "donkey lady?"
Oh, the deal was worse than that! They didn't want to play in RFK... They wanted a brand news satdium complex on all new real estate. To be built by DC. While the DC-owned RFK sits in mothballs.
This is what I don't understand, never having seen RFK. Why should they need a new stadium, given that they are comeing from a stadium where a croud of 10,000 was considdered a huge gate?
How many will RFK seat? It cant be as bad as The Frendly Confines of Wriggle, (which Cubs Fans positivly gush about, but which actually needs a fresh coat of bulldozer in the worst way).
What is RFK used for in the mean time? It must be a huge money loser for the City.
The Texas Rangers still own the name "Washington Senators", believe it or not. They aren't interested in selling, at least at a price the Expos are willing to pay.
Nah, the fru-fru Barbers/Stylists union would get bent all out of shape.
NOT to mention that the last time the Senators appeared in the World Series was 1933.
Geez, talk about a LOSING proposition...
I was stationed in DC '97-'00, '88-'91 and '83-'85. They use RFK for ML Soccer now. A friend warned me to stay away, unless you want to sit next to drunk illegal aliens who want to start fights at the drop of a hat. RFK is designed for football and baseball. They have to move the stands around on rollers. The Redskins used to pack 'em in there, but they always had a waiting list for season tickets. The place would rock for the home team. I think they can seat more people when it's configured for football. I've only been there once, the Paul MCCARTNEY Concert back in Jul90. Semper Fi!
Gotta remember the Orioles are 30 minutes up the road from DC. At least with the Redskins the next nearest football franchise is at least 3 hours away.
I don't think the deal is good for DC.
bump
Of course they don't need a new stadium -- but after being spoiled rotten by generations of corporate welfare, they are unwilling to accept anything less than the style to which they have become accustomed.
And you really expect DC to recover 5-700 million dollars in taxes down the drain ??? What's good for Major League Baseball is good for DC Gov. . .
In other words. . . .you want to rob us, MLB, we'll steal it right back
Talk to the fans, sign some autographs...?
Them's fightin' words! I've been in Wrigley and I've seen a lot of games in PNC Park, which does a pretty decent imitation of Wrigley.
There is no place better suited for watching baseball, IMHO, than Wrigley Field. Virtually every seat in the house (yes, there are a handful behind pillars which don't) give you a great view of the game.
Contrast that to say, even a respectable park like Dodger Stadium, which has an amply large nosebleed section where you can't see as much with binoculars as you can in one of Wrigley's cheap seats in the Upper Deck with the naked eye. As an added bonus, the Cubs have never gone hat-in-hand to the local government to beg for money for a new stadium.
Now, compare Wrigley with stadiums which have been bulldozed recently (Veteran's bowl-like monstrosity in Philadelphia, Old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore) and see what's been put in their place-- imitations of Wrigley Field like PNC Park, like Camden Yards in Baltimore . . . and tell many any true baseball fan doesn't like Wrigley Field. If it were so, there would not be so many imitations. Sir, I rest my case.
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