Washington Stadium Deal Now In Doubt

After months of negotiation, the D.C. City Council finally passed a stadium financing bill late Tuesday night by a vote of 7-6. Unfortunately, thanks to an amendment from D.C. City Council Chairman Linda Cropp, the stadium has to come with 50 percent of its financing from private investors, a proviso that may just give Major League Baseball room to walk away from the deal:

Cropp's amendment gives Williams (D) until June to find a private financing plan worth at least half the cost of the stadium that would be certified by Natwar M. Gandhi, the city's chief financial officer. If such a plan is not certified and then approved by the council, the stadium bill would die.

"My basic belief is that there are too many public dollars going into this," Cropp said. "This will make the mayor seek private dollars more than anything else. I don't know how Major League Baseball will react."

Cropp told her council colleagues that if they did not approve her amendment, she would vote against the stadium agreement. Her vote was considered crucial. The council then approved her amendment by a vote of 10 to 3.

The mayor, huddled with advisers in the council chambers, declined to comment until after the council's final vote. City Administrator Robert C. Bobb said Cropp's move came as a total shock. "I think it is real bad," he said. "The question is whether it violates the stadium agreement. . . . I think we have given them an opportunity to walk."

Cropp, as I mentioned a few weeks back, is a political enemy of District Mayor Anthony Williams, and an old political ally of former Mayor and soon-to-be City Councilman Marion Barry.

So what's next? That's up to Major League Baseball, who thought they had a deal with the District. One would think that they don't have much choice but to play next season at RFK in the District, but after that, who knows?

Also, nota bene, any private financing plan has to be approved yet again by the City Council -- one that after January 1, 2005, will be occupied by an anti-stadium majority that was elected in November, It will be led by the aforementioned Barry and other enemies of the current mayor -- a man whose political career took a serious torpedo below the waterline last night.

Meanwhile, back across the Potomac in Virginia, the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority is still in business, kept on life support just in case the D.C. City Council screwed up. As it says on their Web site:

Major League Baseball has stated that the Expos' relocation to Washington is subject to certain contingencies.  Although certain provisions of Virginia's ballpark financing legislation will expire on January 1, 2005, the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority will by law continue in existence indefinitely. In the event that Major League Baseball may find it necessary to seek other options, the Authority will remain available to explore any possibilities.

What an interesting turn of events. It's important to note that before MLB announced that the team would go to Washington, it was always assumed that the District could hold any deal to move the team to Virginia hostage. After all, the only place in the immediate area that it could play its home games while a stadium was built in Virginia would be at RFK Stadium.

But now the tables have turned, and the city has no choice but to host the team at RFK while MLB seeks other options -- either a move to Virginia, or perhaps even contraction of the team.

More in the morning, when I'm sure there will be much more pain and anguish.

UPDATE: Here's Tom Boswell:

As 11 o'clock approached last night, I called Commissioner Bud Selig at home to find out whether he knew that D.C. Council chairwoman Linda Cropp had just blown to smithereens the deal that baseball thought it had in place to bring the sport back to Washington.

A telephone company recording said, "We are checking the number you have dialed for trouble on the line."

You better believe there is trouble.

Look for a very angry unsigned editorial to appear in the Thursday edition of the Post.

One of the reasons Cropp offered her amendment was that she felt that the promises MLB had made in a letter to city officials concerning her objections weren't sufficient. Click here for a copy of that letter.

MORNING UPDATE: There are a few new links this morning -- including this audio clip of Cropp offering the amendment that is almost certain to kill the deal with MLB. Click here to stop by the official message boards for the Nationals at MLB.com, where reactions range from anger to disbelief.

But the headline of the day belongs to Washington blogger Bill Yurasko:

THEY Q%&#$@!-ING BLEW IT

I know why he feels that way, but from where I'm sitting, Cropp knew exactly what she was doing. More political analysis later.

EXTRA INNING UPDATE: Veteran D.C. political observer Mark Plotkin is online right now discussing last night's vote. And if you really want to know why this deal has been scuttled, you really need to pay attention to the local politics involved, and the fact that there simply isn't much of a constituency for baseball with the voters inside the District of Colombia.

Know this: Cropp would have let that stadium financing bill sail through the City Council if she thought scuttling it would have meant a political cost at the polls.

More local D.C. blogger reaction: Washington Baseball, Capitol Punishment and Bijan Bayne.

And be sure to check in with the Washington Times and the Baltimore Sun.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: While much of the bile generated today will be the fault of Cropp, the ultimate blame for not getting it done will probably fall on the shoulders of Mayor Williams. Here's Plotkin on the Mayor's role in last night's vote:

The Mayor, Tony Williams, is a person of very limited if at all political skills. The Council doesn’t like him and he has no persuasive abilities. In addition he doesn’t realize that being a big city mayor requires you to think strategically and develop personal relationships with those you work with. So the mayor is really a non-factor in moving the Council.

Plotkin contends that Cropp will pay a price at the polls if baseball leaves. And I just got out of a conversation with a very angry D.C. resident who left a long and angry message on the answering machine in Cropp's office letting her know she's be held accountable for last night's vote.

Whether or not there are enough folks who feel just like him is another question.

But, apparently there still may be hope for stadium supporters. City Councilman Jack Evans told WTOP-AM this morning that the effort is still alive (realPlayer required), and the City Council can reconsider the killer amendment next Tuesday. On the other hand, Plotkin told WTOP that the deal was dead (realPlayer required).

As for MLB, the team has cancelled a press conference that had been scheduled for today to unveil their new uniforms. Stay tuned.

EXTENDED UPDATE: John Windmeuller was at the meeting last night, and he's got photos. Hat tip, DCist. Leave your comments in their open thread, here.

And in an online column, the Post's Marc Fisher lays the blame at the feet of Mayor Williams:

But as much as Cropp is the proximate cause of the Nationals' departure -- and let's not fool ourselves, the team cannot be sold without a new stadium and there is no longer any stadium -- Mayor Anthony A. Williams must also be seen as having gutted his own deal. Instead of selling the agreement to a properly skeptical public, instead of bringing Cropp and the rest of the council along at every step of the negotiations, Williams spent week after week gallivanting around the globe on his own unchecked ego adventure.

More later.

WILLIAMS COMES OUT FIGHTING: Looks like the Mayor has decided to go down fighting when it comes to the stadium deal:

Mayor Anthony A. Williams said today that the deal to bring Major League Baseball to Washington is in "great, great jeopardy" because of significant changes the D.C. Council made to a stadium financing agreement.

"Yes, baseball is in jeopardy," he said at his weekly news conference at city hall. "We had a deal and now it's broken. The dream of 33 years is close to dying."

But Williams (D) added that he will fight during the next week to find ways to ensure that the deal does not collapse.

But just in case it does, the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority says it's ready to talk to MLB. Former Washington Senators PA announcer Charlie Brotman did another online chat with the Post.

More local blogger reaction: Ball Wonk and Nats Blog.

Eric 12:30 AM

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