February 08, 2006
D.C. Council Reworks Lease
An hour after they rejected the lease negotiated by the mayor and MLB, the D.C. Council reconvened and passed their own version of the lease.
After initially voting down the lease 8-5 Tuesday night, council members returned to session an hour later at the urging of Mayor Anthony A. Williams. They attached legislation capping the city's total cost at just less than $611 million and voted 9-4 to approve.
Major League Baseball will comment later today on the deal.
"We'll see what it looks like and how it impacts our contract with them, and we'll comment on it tomorrow," said DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer. "I cannot comment until I see it and see what impact, if any, it has on the contract they approved a year ago December. They have amended it repeatedly tonight, so I am not really sure what it says."
It's quite possible that MLB will take the city to arbitration over the new terms. I don't see why, however. The city is going to absorb quite a bit of the cost overruns. Whoever buys the team is getting a sweetheart of a deal. My guess is that there are potential buyers among the candidates who are willing to help out with the stadium. Sell the team to one of those, and let a flourishing franchise take care of the rest.
Posted by David Pinto at
06:58 AM
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Selig is just waiting until the WBC so he can sell the team to Loria and buy the Marlins while we're distracted.