BREAKING NEWS-WP: MLB signs off on stadium lease terms

[vasprtsfn]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...030500607.html

[KingJ]

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!
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[eddiejc1]

You're not using enough exclamation points! How about Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

Eddie Cunningham

[efin98]

How did I know you would do that Ed!

[Bob Hannah]

Like a giant game of chicken.

[ed hardiman]

There goes my retirement strategy of snapping up large tracts of land near Dulles and hoping for a stadium authority condemnation to make me Bill Gates rich...

[Aa3rt]

At last!!!

Now, can we finally get back to BASEBALL?!?

[Uncle Dak]

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=398&sid=644951

As long as there is anything left for DC Council to vote on this deal is not done.

[1995hoo]

Originally Posted by Uncle Dak

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=398&sid=644951

As long as there is anything left for DC Council to vote on this deal is not done.

Sadly, that sentence is the key here. And Linda Cropp's husband acted surprised when she was severely booed at the exhibition game against the Mets last year.

[KCGHOST]

All that has happened here is that MLB has returned the DC Council's volley.

[Bob Hannah]

Originally Posted by KCGHOST

All that has happened here is that MLB has returned the DC Council's volley.

A much weaker volley compared to the salvos sent Baseball's way. There is really nothing in the "conditions" Baseball has put forward that will sink the deal. The excess tax is a minor sticking point. As for the council passing legislation contrary to what has been passed, I don't even think that council has the cojones to switch horses in the middle of the stream again.

For those of us who have followed this the past couple years, we are in the homestretch. More bumps from opponents? Expect it. Derailment? No.

Next order of business is "Who will be the new owner?"

[Uncle Dak]

Originally Posted by Bob Hannah

A much weaker volley compared to the salvos sent Baseball's way. There is really nothing in the "conditions" Baseball has put forward that will sink the deal. The excess tax is a minor sticking point. As for the council passing legislation contrary to what has been passed, I don't even think that council has the cojones to switch horses in the middle of the stream again.

For those of us who have followed this the past couple years, we are in the homestretch. More bumps from opponents? Expect it. Derailment? No.

Next order of business is "Who will be the new owner?"

I hope you are correct that the excess tax is a minor topic and they just generate hot air on the topic.

[efin98]

Originally Posted by Bob Hannah

A much weaker volley compared to the salvos sent Baseball's way. There is really nothing in the "conditions" Baseball has put forward that will sink the deal. The excess tax is a minor sticking point. As for the council passing legislation contrary to what has been passed, I don't even think that council has the cojones to switch horses in the middle of the stream again.

For those of us who have followed this the past couple years, we are in the homestretch. More bumps from opponents? Expect it. Derailment? No.

Next order of business is "Who will be the new owner?"

Not quite- look at this stipulation in the deal: "The document contains a number of conditions, however, including the provision that it does not become legally binding if the city enacts further legislation that is contrary to the stadium funding plan that the council passed."

No changes in the funding whatsoever, they have to commit or else they lose the team.

[KCGHOST]

Well, Bob, I hope you right, but I still see the glass as half-empty.

[eddiejc1]

Originally Posted by KCGHOST

Well, Bob, I hope you right, but I still see the glass as half-empty.

Bob and others who have seen my posts at the MLB board will say that I
am a Chicken Little who is always saying that the sky is falling. Even for me,
it seems the glass is finally more than half-full.

Eddie Cunningham

[Bob Hannah]

Originally Posted by KCGHOST

Well, Bob, I hope you right, but I still see the glass as half-empty.

Understood. Throughout this whole soap opera between the city council and baseball I've remained, uncharictaristically, optomistic in a cautious sense. Last in Dec. of '04 we saw a council fight that actually closed down baseball operations. Chairman Cropp's plan finally passed and Baseball accepted it. This past winter we have seen Baseball make concessions (not enough in my book) and it's acceptance of the council changing their original funding plan with the emergency legislation passed last month. As DuPuy said in the Washington Post-

"We have worked very hard to accommodate the requests from the Mayor and the Council that changed the terms of the agreement that brought the Expos to Washington," said MLB President Robert A. DuPuy in a statement. "Because we believe in the future of Baseball in the nation's capital, we have signed a lease that honors the 2004 agreement, while conforming to the emergency legislation that the Council passed last month.

"Everyone has to compromise so the Nationals can enjoy a strong future," DuPuy said. "We are offering a compromise that I call on District leaders to support."

The last paragraph is a not so veiled threat-Baseball won't concede anymore (and I really can't blame them. Dealing with Baseball is a circus, but dealing with the D.C. city council is...well, there are no words for it.). If the coucil won't agree with Baseball it goes to arbitration and the city will likely lose. That means the team leaves. So far Baseball hasn't been willing to let this happen. The sale price for the team would devalue greatly in any other market, no other market is ready (consider stadium availability, needed legislation, buers willing take placement of the team in another market to name a few), nor is any other as lucerative. But if council swithces up again I see Baseball willing to take losses just as a matter of saving face.

Although its been a rocky, rocky road, things do progress.

[eddiejc1]

Originally Posted by Bob Hannah

Understood. Throughout this whole soap opera between the city council and baseball I've remained, uncharictaristically, optomistic in a cautious sense. Last in Dec. of '04 we saw a council fight that actually closed down baseball operations. Chairman Cropp's plan finally passed and Baseball accepted it. This past winter we have seen Baseball make concessions (not enough in my book) and it's acceptance of the council changing their original funding plan with the emergency legislation passed last month. As DuPuy said in the Washington Post-


The last paragraph is a not so veiled threat-Baseball won't concede anymore (and I really can't blame them. Dealing with Baseball is a circus, but dealing with the D.C. city council is...well, there are no words for it.). If the coucil won't agree with Baseball it goes to arbitration and the city will likely lose. That means the team leaves. So far Baseball hasn't been willing to let this happen. The sale price for the team would devalue greatly in any other market, no other market is ready (consider stadium availability, needed legislation, buers willing take placement of the team in another market to name a few), nor is any other as lucerative. But if council swithces up again I see Baseball willing to take losses just as a matter of saving face.

Although its been a rocky, rocky road, things do progress.

The bright spot I see is this---all of the Council Members who are sqwawking are the Frightful Four. I haven't heard anything from Gray, Brown, Schwartz, or even Barry which suggests they have are disappointed so far. Gray, in fact, seems relieved. I will feel much better when the vote is actually done, but I think it will get through.

Eddie Cunningham

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

Eddie, you must be happy!

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

Originally Posted by KingJ

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!
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you too! Man you guys are that happy, I can't wait to see how you'll act when we win it all!!

[eddiejc1]

Originally Posted by wilkerson_rulz

Eddie, you must be happy!

I'll be happier tomorrow when it's all official. I'm just sorry that
the only way we could have gotten a team was at your expense.
In hinsight, we should have received the second expansion team
over Miami.

BTW, great new avatar!

Eddie Cunningham

[eddiejc1]

Originally Posted by wilkerson_rulz

you too! Man you guys are that happy, I can't wait to see how you'll act when we win it all!!

I'm assuming you mean when the Nats win the World Series, but I promise to celebrate when the Habs win the Stanley Cup! If we get the wrong owner, it's more likely the Habs will get the Cup before the Nats win a pennant.

Eddie Cunningham

[JPWARD37]

Having lost 2 baseball clubs here in DC - I am overjoyed while not overlooking Montreal's pain. The Twins and the Rangers both left us based on some underhanded wheeling and dealing. The bottom line is, that regarless of what happened with this stadium deal here in DC, this ballclub was never to return to Montreal. For that, I am sorry.

[1995hoo]

Originally Posted by JPWARD37

Having lost 2 baseball clubs here in DC - I am overjoyed while not overlooking Montreal's pain. The Twins and the Rangers both left us based on some underhanded wheeling and dealing. The bottom line is, that regarless of what happened with this stadium deal here in DC, this ballclub was never to return to Montreal. For that, I am sorry.

My father and mother both grew up in Brooklyn, so I have to say the same thing. The other thing that I really regret is the way that the US media made Montreal out to be some sort of third-rate chicken**** backwater of a city, which it certainly is not. I was just up there a few weeks ago and was reminded of how much I enjoy it there.

[Uncle Dak]

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=398&sid=644951

Even Fenty has changed his tune. There is reason to feel good now when Fenty says he "respects the legislative process".

Hurray for the new ballpark!

[eddiejc1]

Originally Posted by 1995hoo

My father and mother both grew up in Brooklyn, so I have to say the same thing. The other thing that I really regret is the way that the US media made Montreal out to be some sort of third-rate chicken**** backwater of a city, which it certainly is not. I was just up there a few weeks ago and was reminded of how much I enjoy it there.

Montréal is a great city. It just does not have a lot of baseball fans. I think the Expos were to Montréal the way the Capitals are to D.C. There are a small number of die-hard hockey fans who live and die with the Caps, and they go to games regularly at MCI Center. But most sports fans in the D.C. area are at best casual hockey fans. If the Caps are not contending, they don't exist. I hate to say this, but I believe the Caps' raison d'être is to help fill up the MCI Center (as they did the Capital Center) when the Bullets/Wizards are not playing. Hopefully Ted Leonsis can help build a larger fan base for the Caps, but right now we are nowhere near Philadelphia. (I firmly believe Philly may just be THE biggest hockey town in the U.S. with an NHL team, even though they haven't won a Cup since 1975.)

In Montréal, there is a small band of baseball fans, but hockey c'est Dieu. With the proper ownership and leadership, I think baseball in Montréal could have worked. God knows that Stadé Olympique---for all it's faults---was probably a better baseball facility than Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. But with the collapse of the CFL, there wasn't a bigger, more popular club using Stadé Olympique stadium that could have borne most of the costs. In other words, the Expos didn't have a "Bullets/Wizards" sharing the place with them. Furthermore, several of the moves management made served only to alienate more and more fans. We may grouse about problems with MASN and the last radio station, but we still could see at least SOME games on TV, and HEAR games on the radio, even if the signal was weak. Montrealers could do neither.

Anyway, to sum up, I'm glad D.C. finally got baseball, but Montréal deserved a lot better...

Eddie Cunningham