|
 |
|
|
August 19, 2004
The D.C. Baseball Waiting Game
Reporting from the basebal owners meetings in Philadelphia, USA Today, Hal Bodley says that the District bid is the front-runner to acquire the Expos, while Eric Fisher at the Washington Times reported that doubts are growing that the team will ever move here at all. One thing is pretty clear, time is running out (once again) if a team is to start play in 2005. As one anonymous source close to one of the Washington bids told Fisher, "When you starting working backwards on the calendar [from Opening Day 2005], they're really getting in a bind." And, in what can only be called a cruel twist of fate, the Orioles held their annual Washington Fanfest yesterday in Farragut Square Park (click here for Tom Boswell's take on the festivities). The event drew 4,000 fans, something that would seem to be a stinging rebuke to the contention that Washington isn't a baseball town. Yet at the same time, it's hard to argue that the Os fans who showed up weren't buttressing Baltimore owner Peter Angelos' contention that D.C. is in Baltimore's backyard, and that a team here would permanently damage the Orioles. What does it all mean? I'm at a loss these days, other than to say it's clear that Major League Baseball still hasn't found a deal it's completely satisfied with. What's it going to take? Here goes: 1) A stadium financing package that is signed, sealed and delivered, before MLB ever agrees to transfer the Expos to Washington. D.C. City Councliman Jack Evans isn't going to want to hear this, but it's the truth. And to all those folks who hate the idea of having to drive to Northern Virginia to see a ballgame (probably as much as I despise the idea of driving to Baltimore on a weeknight to see the Orioles), the one way to win this race and knock Loudoun out of the box is to get the City Council to pass a financing plan now. That act alone would kill the Loudoun bid off in an instant. 2) A financial buyout package large enough to convince Angelos to back off, and drop his opposition to a team in the Washington area. Now I know many of you will start to scream that Angelos has no standing to block the movement of a National League team into a territory that he doesn't even own. That's technically true. However, in the real world, Major League Baseball owners are a very small and exclusive club. And while Angelos might not be able to block an actual vote on the move, he can manuever all he wants behind the scenes to scuttle the deal -- something he's obviously doing right now. If you want him to back off, the man has to get paid. Otherwise he's never going to go away, and will continue to engineer a game of stall ball that may eventually reach an end game of having the Expos contracted out of existence rather than moved to another city. Some final thoughts: keep in mind that the Expos are jointly owned by all the other 29 teams in Majoe League Baseball, including the Orioles. And, the better a stadium deal gets, that means whatever local ownership group wins will have more money available to purchase the Expos. And how do you get the best stadium deal? By keeping as many cities involved in the bidding process as possible -- even if those cities are obviously not viable candidates. Demand, even artificial demand, drives up price. And that's the game Major League Baseball is playing right now. From the looks of it, they're winning.
Eric
07:15 AM
Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsAs usual, the dog named RICO doesn't seem to be doing much barking amongst a mystified American sporting press. The arbitrator's decision in the lawsuit between Loria and the Expos minority partners still won't be handed down until October, as Jayson Stark recently pointed out. In the meantime, the French-language media in Montreal are convinced, based on what the Stade staff and authorities are hearing, that the Expos will be back in 2005. I suggest everyone start boning up on poutine recipes for Opening Day. Stark's piece: Posted by: at August 19, 2004 08:58 PM Post a commentThanks for signing in, . (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |