SoFlaFish

Arbitration position statements are not solely based on salary comparisons, but on statistical analysis in relation to salary. Furthermore, the statistical comparison is not made with only one player, but with several players of with similar statistical, financial, and experience factors. Without having read Cabrera's report, I'm sure he's being compared to players of similar experience and timeframe (and not necessarily Pujols). There may be references to last year's arbitration awards as well. I've seen how these things are drafted, and TSwift25, you're off base when trying to determine how the arbitrator will rule.

Did H Wayne ever express the need for a new stadium? A retractable dome stadium? When he owned the stadium they play in now? i believe the Times have their fact wrong! My memory is bad but I believe I would have remembered something said along that way Don't you remember Blockbuster Park? The gigantic complex proposed for the land just southwest of the Miramar Parkway/Interstate 75 interchange? It was supposed to house a baseball stadium for the Marlins, a hockey arena for the Panthers, movie studios, television studios and an entertainment theme park. The residents of Miramar were up in arms and were worried that Miramar Parkway and Pines Boulevard would end up resembling US-192 in Kissimmee with strip malls, motels, and tacky t-shirt stands. The project was DOA. Of course, now that intersection resembles the fifth rung of Dante's Inferno with "cookie-cutter" homes that all look the same another Home Depot/Publix/Target-esque super shopping center.

Am I wrong? No, you're not wrong. It's arbitration, not litigation. The arbitrator examines the briefs and any potential argument presented by either side. Then it is one or the other. The arbitrator is bound by the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") rules and procedures, as well as any other rules and procedures outlined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. This comes from the AAA: In addition to contractual grievance arbitration, the Basic Agreement between the Major League Baseball Players Association and the owners provides for arbitration of salary disputes. While these arbitrations are basically a form of labor arbitration, an arbitrator is not permitted to fashion remedies or write opinions. The Basic Agreement requires "last best offer" arbitration, in which both the team and the player involved submit their last offers to an arbitrator, who must pick one of the submitted figures. While this can at times produce what appear to be unusual results, the nature of this system induces the participants to bargain in good faith and results in a high percentage of settlements.

Lets see, so you say Miami growth was not ahead of Palm Beach, even though you do say that, just not for the reasons I am trying to convince you of. Not really trying to convince anyone of anything. Therefore, the reason for PBC was really a result of Cleveland, not Miami, because the money started there along with the oil exec who really only lived here in the winter. Bob, doesn't really matter-and apologies for assuming any bias-really. If I end up fighting people on this board, then it will stop being fun. Some of the displays of acrimony are excessive. Anyway, Juan Ponce de Leon (1460?-1521) was a Spanish explorer and soldier who was the first European to set foot in Florida. He also established the oldest European settlement in Puerto Rico and discovered the Gulf Stream (a current in the Atlantic Ocean). Ponce de Leon was searching for the legendary fountain of youth and other riches. See you at the games. HUH?!? Okay, let's close the door on this. In the true "land planning" sense of the word, West Palm Beach is NOT a suburb of Miami, neither is Fort Lauderdale. Historically speaking, West Palm Beach and Miami grew on separate and independent tracks and neither really relied on the other for growth, transportation, etc. WPB was incorporated first, settled first, and developed first (in one way or another). Henry Flagler lived in Palm Beach and agreed to extend his railroad south at the behest of Julia Tuttle and Mary Brickell. It was Flagler that built the Royal Palm Hotel to serve as the terminus of his railroad. The "Royal Palm" was built where the present day MetOne project downtown is going up (or what was once the DuPont Plaza Hotel). Actually until 2003, West Palm Beach and Miami were two separate MSA ("metropolitan statistical areas"), with "West Palm Beach-Boca Raton" being one and "Miami-Fort Lauderdale" being another. In 2003, WPB was "lumped" into the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach MSA. As a matter of fact, Palm Beach County officials were upset that WPB was not named as the "principal city" in the name of the MSA, and that it was Miami Beach instead. Within each MSA, there are "divisions" and the "Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach MSA" has three: (1) "Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metropolitan Division," (2) "Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach Metropolitan Division," and (3) "West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach Metropolitan Division." Under the 2000 standards, ?Metropolitan Statistical Area? and ?Micropolitan Statistical Area? are the terms used for the basic set of county-based areas defined under this classification. In addition, the term ?Metropolitan Division? is used to refer to a county or group of counties within a Metropolitan Statistical Area that has a population core of at least 2.5 million. A Metropolitan Division is most generally comparable in concept, and equivalent to, the now obsolete Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area. While a Metropolitan Division is a subdivision of a larger Metropolitan Statistical Area, it often functions as a distinct social, economic, and cultural area within the larger region. Metropolitan Divisions retain their separate statistical identities. Federal agencies will continue to provide detailed data for each Metropolitan Division, just as they did in the past for the Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Now that I've bored you with enough planning jargon, the answer is this simple: WEST PALM BEACH IS NOT A SUBURB OF MIAMI (for heaven's sake, we don't even watch the same TV stations!).

Why is the burden of persuasion on the low-bidder? Is this what you think or are there rules somewhere that say this? There is no "burden of persuasion" in arbitration. I have drafted many agreements which have an arbitration clause in them. There are two types of arbitration: (1) regular and (2) "baseball" (I kid you not, when drafting these multimillion dollar management agreements for resort properties, both sides always referred to it as "baseball style"). In "regular" arbitration, both sides can come up with figures (or positions) and the arbitrator, or arbitrator is free to pick either position, or a third "position" based on the arguments raised. "Baseball style" arbitration is hard and fast, the arbitrator is limited to choose between one or the other and has no discretion to go beyond that. Trust me on this, these arbitration briefs are written out like any legal appellate argument and the amount of information that is disclosed is staggering. It is like reading a disertation presented by the Elias Sports Bureau. After reading the Marlins position paper on A.J. Burnett, their offer to him was more than fair. The players agreed to this system, so if a player's feelings get hurt in the process, well then the problem is with the player, not the system. Nobody ever claims that the General Manager's feelings are hurt. Give me a break, these are 20-somethings that are getting paid to play a game, and then on top of that getting paid insane gobs of money to play a game.

People seem to think the Marlins just picked numbers out of the air. The Marlins have employed for years some of the best consultants in the business and have been pretty good at figuring what the top number the arbiters will go for. The logic behind $5.75 being a better number than $6.7 boogles the mind. :banghead I can assure you that the folks handling the Marlins side of the arbitration proceeding are some of the best in the business. I know this because I used to work for them. I actually got to read the Marlins arbitration position statement for A.J. Burnett. These documents are some of the most fascinating reads. There were other players reports as well that I read, but I remember A.J.'s the most. The numbers are derived from detailed comparisons between similar players and similar points in their careers. There are trends that are examined as well as detailed game-to-game analyses! There are no personal attacks in the arbitration reports so there is no reason for a player to have his feelings hurt unless that player is ultra-sensative (i.e., A.J. Burnett). The arguments are solely statistically based.

Thank you for the kind words, Marlins2003. I will not consider myself a "friend" of the current ownership, but I'm not so naive as to think that they are some nefarious backroom dealers out to scam us the fans or anyone else. I try to explain things based on my experience of having to deal and negotiate with local government EVERY DAY as part of my job. It's what I do, I'm a local government lawyer and registered lobbyist in several municipalities and counties of South Florida (for full disclosure, I am not registered in Miami-Dade County). TSwift25, you tried to make a simple analogy that was too simple. I tried to change the terms of your comparison by bringing it to simpler terms that were closer to the actual situation. A true "handout" would be the county building the facility, on county land, followed by a quit-claim deed to the Marlins for the facility, and then having the Marlins "pay back" only a percentage of the "loan" in "rent payments." Another way to call this a "handout" would be if the Marlins paid no rent or a nominal rent, like $1.00 per year for 99 years. But, again, that is not what is happening. The Marlins are going to be tenants of a government owned facility. Their $232M in rent payments may translate to a prorated share of their use of the facility. The County will be free to schedule other events at the facility and derive profit from them (i.e., the WBC, concerts, a bowl game, an NCAA Regional, a convention, etc.). Marlins2003 knows how frustrated I get trying to explain things here. I know that I have a level of knowledge and expertise in the situation that some of you don't have (plus, I'm much closer to the "fire" than you guys would know, or that I'm at liberty to disclose). By the way, one week ago I was in a meeting with the assistant zoning director for Miami-Dade County on a matter for one of my clients. I sat down with the attorney on the other side of my deal and the topic turned to the "future" Government Center Baseball Stadium. The Miami-Dade official was very incredulous as to how they were going to fit a stadium there. His words were, "I think there's a royal palm in left field that's going to get in the way."

Of all the casino-hotels in the world, Anna Nicole Smith has to come in and die in the one casino-hotel that I have to be at tomorrow morning for a Continuing Legal Education seminar! That place is going to be a media madhouse tomorrow!

So wrong on so many levels. 1) The Marlins are not being the great benefactors they'd have you believe. They're offering payment in the form of "future rent payments" meaning that if the stadium doesn't get built, the $200 million they're pledging doesn't exist. In real life terms, they're a college frat asking the owner of a property next door to build a house they can use on that empty property. Because they're a college frat, they don't have the money now, but once the house is built, they'll throw keg parties and stuff like that and use that money to pay the land lord rent. Becuase, eventually, they'll make enough money in their keg parties to come close to paying off maybe half of what the land lord took on, they feel that they themselves are paying for it because that money could have been spent on things like more beer instead of rent. When, in actuality, no house means no keg parties which means no money...so who's really "paying" for it? (And 2003 and Ferry, I realize it's more complicated than this scenario, but in its essence, its really not all that different. If it makes you sleep better, pretend the land lord's at the door getting a sur-charge from the frat and that he makes the frat endure expenses not typically associated with your normal tenant). 2) Your idea of sports is so skewed by the "losers" mentality of the piss poor market. Every team in a new stadium that did it "right" (Phillies, Giants, Astros, Tigers, Cardinals...basically everyone who campaigned for a new stadium, got it, and isn't named the Pirates) plays in front of pretty much capacity crowds and weekend sellouts. Some of them, gasp, even have wait lists for season tickets or only sell premium seats as a season ticket. Hell, even teams in old stadiums that desperately need redoing out draw us. Just because people don't go to games in Miami doesn't mean we're not, on paper, a much more desireable market than many of the aforementioned teams. Just from recollection, I believe the Miami/Marlins market is something like the 6th largest media market in MLB and of course Miami is one of the 4 major metropolitan cities in the US (New York, LA, Miami, Chicago) 3) Finally, the ownership is too poor to compete. Once the stadium is in place (*knock on wood*) the revenue sharing check Loria receives will be no longer and he instead will be asked to kick money IN. Do you realize the implications of this? A handout turns into an open hand! The spin we're fed on that could leave you dizzy. Plus, your stance also ignores that two of the most notoriously stingy franchises (The A's and Twins) look like the Yankees compared to Jeffrey Loria. And in the case of the A's, the situation is alarmingly similar. I beg to differ with your rationale. 1. Yes, they're contributing "non-existing" money to pay for their share of the stadium. However, your characterization of it is incorrect. Even though the money does not exist now it will exist and $200M is significant money when you look at it in terms of "rent" or "payments." And if the stadium doesn't get built, then the team isn't here and their $200M will be spent elsewhere, or pocketed because they found other income streams. Your frat house analogy is incorrect. Think of it more like a construction loan. You don't have the money to build a house on a vacant lot. So a bank fronts you the money, which you have to pay back over time. You don't have the money today, but over 20 years that money will go back to pay the bank. Same here, in simple terms. The County fronts the bonds to fund the construction and owns the facility, the team pays rent to the facility as a way to cover the construction costs. Now, if the bank doesn't give me a construction loan, then I don't have a house and the money I would have spent to pay off the loan would not exist either, or I would have gotten a loan to build a house in North Carolina for half that amount and I would have saved half of my expected loan payments. That doesn't mean that I'm still not "contributing." To continue the analogy further, now imagine that on the weekends you're not home, the house is "rented" as a vacation home, except the proceeds of that "rent" goes straight to pay off the construction loan. That's still more money coming in. I'd be upset if the Marlins played at a new facility for "no-rent" or for "nominal rent", but if they're paying a "fair-share" of rent (and by fair-share I mean a percentage of the amount of time they're using the facility) then I don't have a problem with it. But to say they are not contributing because they don't have the money today is not correct. 2. Your assertion that Miami is one of the four major metropolitan cities in the United States is down right wrong, if not self-centered and idiotic. Let's just rank the MLB TV markets that are out there to see that Miami doesn't even crack the Top 10: (1) New York City , (2)Los Angeles , (3)Chicago, (4) Philadelphia, (5) San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, (6) Dallas/Ft. Worth, (7) Boston/ Southern New Hampshire, (8) Washington, D.C., (9) Atlanta, (10) Houston, (11) Detroit/Windsor, (12) Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota/Bradenton, (13) Phoenix, (14) Seattle/Tacoma, (15) Minneapolis/St. Paul, (16) Miami/Ft. Lauderdale. That makes South Florida the 16th largest MLB TV market, smack dab in the middle. Then, in terms of metropolitan population, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale does not register in the Top 4 "major metropolitan cities" in the US. While the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach MSA is listed as having a population of 5,422,200, ranking it 6th behind NYC, LA, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Dallas-Fort Worth, you have to remember that the MSA includes the West Palm Beach-Boynton Beach-Boca Raton subgroup. If WPB is to be treated as its own MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), then Miami-Ft. Lauderdale would barely crack the Top 10. Now take into account other MSAs and you'll see that other markets in MLB are split. If the entire Washington-Baltimore market were combined, it would climb above this MSA. Same would hold true for the Boston-Providence MSAs (Boston and Providence are roughly equidistant to Miami and WPB). So to say we are part of the "Big 4" is wrong. If baseball isn't drawing down here when, on paper, we look good, then the problem isn't with ownership or facilities, it's with the market. There is a reason why Los Angeles has been without the NFL for over 10 years and the city hasn't fallen off the face of the earth. We're talking about "King Sport" in LA, and they seem to be doing just fine!

Most of you missed my point. Do I want another fire sale? NO. But I also believe in some form of fiscal sanity if I were running this team. Would I love to see Cabrera stay and sign a long-term contract? YES. But I would not sign him to a contract that means paying him above "market" for those years when his production may be leaner (and hence the risk of a backloaded deal), and no matter how much I like the guy as a player nobody deserves a payday like Manny Ramirez, A-Rod, or the other upper-tier guys. A "killer-contract" like that will do nothing but hamper your roster later on in time (i.e., Mo Vaughn and the Angels!). Would I love to see Willis stay and sign a long-term contract? YES. But I sure as hell would not sign him to a deal like Barry Zito's just so that he can stay in a Marlins uniform! If that is the money that he would demand in the future, and some other team will give it to him, then you'll just have to part ways. Even with a new stadium, some of these guys here now will leave because they are priced out of our the Marlins range. That is a fact of life in today's baseball. That is something I have accepted because the alternative is NO BASEBALL and that is just plain worse. Even with a new stadium, the Marlins are not going to be the Red Sox, Mets, Yankees, or Dodgers. They may not even be the Giants, Angels, or Braves. A competitive balance will remain, but I hope that whatever ownership has the Marlins in, say 2015, still retains a level of fiscal sanity and does not go out and sign someone like Dennys Baez for three years, $19 million or Gil Meche for five years, $55 million. Do you see what I mean?

To those of you that are bemoaning that payroll may remain low while the stadium is under construction, would you rather the team spent $5.0M per year on a sub-.500 middle reliever to make you "feel better" (i.e. Dennys Baez!). Would you rather have the team sign a Mark Grudzulanek-type player for $3.0M so that you can say, "hey our payroll has gone up!" Give me a break. If the team can be fiscally sound and competitive, then I'm happy. Isn't that what the average fan wants, guys that play to their value, or play above their value? Instead you cry and bitch because the payroll is low, and then you'd turn right around and cry and bitch if the payroll is too high and the team is 20 games under .500. That just goes to show how many of you here are completely CLUELESS about baseball or operating a business.

I'm simply saying that he was probably talking to a George Costanza type front office guy. I'm sure the guy stopped at that Starbucks on his way to some "assignment" "downtown" for Mr. Wilhelm. Hey, who knows, maybe on Opening Day we'll see the Marlins wearing cotton uniforms instead of polyester. Initial reviews were glowing: "Dontrelle Willis: 'What a fabric! Finally we can breathe.' Anibal Sanchez: 'Cotton is king.' Jeremy Hermida: 'I never dreamed anything could be so soft and fluffy.'" Or maybe this guy really does hate Loria and is spouting these things because he's been offered a job as Head of Scouting by the Braves and needs to get fired by the Marlins to get that job. Look out in the news for some incident soon. I can see it now, he's going to tie one of the World Series trophies to the back of his car and drag it around the Dolphin Stadium parking lot, yelling, though a bullhorn: "Attention, Loria and front-office morons! Your triumphs mean nothing. You all stink. You can sit on it, and rotate! This is George Costanza. I fear no reprisal. Extension 5-1-7-0."

I'm there every year with my two kids. It's their favorite part of the season since they get to talk to the players, get autographs and have their pictures taken with them. Plus, Feb. 17 is my birthday, so that's a pretty good way to spend the birthday with my two kids on the ball fields. As usual, we hit the Cards facility for a while, then the Marlins facility. Last year we got great pictures and autographs on the Cardinals side. Scott Rolen was especially friendly to my son (very surprising to me) as was Scott Spezio.

What do those pictures have to do with the price of eggs on Tuesday? Those are pictures showing master plans that may never be built as an enticement for someone to invest in a condo unit in downtown Miami (the disclaimer at the bottom of the web page says it all). The website belongs to "Miami Investment Brokers" and are just looking to flip properties downtown. No more, no less. If you notice the first line in the "Bicentennial Park" picture set, it says: "Verticus Project (not implemented - now Museum Park). Meaning that it's all sound and fury signifying nothing. This should be the end of this discussion.

Dayn Perry wouldn't know baseball if you hit him over the head with a bat and then clobbered him in the nuts with a ball! Have you read any of his other previous baseball columns? The guy just regurgitates whatever other columnists write in other hometown fish wrappers. He is sometimes truly clueless.

Is it best to get tickets in advance or go the day of the game? There are a few extra games I want to go to (Not Sox or Cards)- So- Advance or gameday? Tickets cost the same whether in advance or game day. Also, unless they're playing the Red Sox or Yankees, you'll always be able to get Marlins tickets on game day.

Cool, that probably means that tomorrow is the Roger Dean Stadium Open House. I've already got my tickets for March 4 vs. St. Louis. For those of you in attendance on that Sunday afternoon. "Even Littler SoFlaFish" will be the Honorary Bat Kid. We'll be on the field for BP and the National Anthem! Looking very forward to it. So prepare to see a 3-year old boy with some good "pop" in his bat (he is already hitting liners past the third base bag from off a tee!) in his Marlins gear.

You'd be getting off of it at 3rd St. to get to the ballpark site (red marker). If this thing actually gets built, NW 3rd St. isn't going to exist anymore as it will probably be either the warning track or the left field bleacher seats.

I can't tell by the map what are parking garages or just regular occupied buildings. And I don't know squat about downtown Miami. But I did say I would drive it to see how it is. We drive over an hour each way to go to games now and are long time season ticket holders. Can't see how that is being negative. I am however against any down town site. For the same reason I am against a Pompano site. I think the downtown site takes away season ticket options for PBC residents just as a Pompano site would take away season ticket options for South Dade residents. Really not interested in getting into this discussion again on this thread. Go to the relevant threads in the ball park section and you can read all about it. I've posted in another thread the location of potential parking areas. For your benefit, take a look here: The areas in shaded in BLUE are potential surface parking lots. I'm not even taking into account any of the parking garages in the area. Plus, since you state that you live in Greenacres, I am practically you're neighbor right now (I'm in Winston Trails). I strongly prefer a Downtown Miami site and the drive is not as bad as you may think. The heaviest traffic heading south is in Broward County. So no matter where the park is built, for those of us in Central Palm Beach, we're going to hit traffic. But I'm sure that we are only but 10% to 20% of the "fan base." (not season ticket holders, I mean potential walk-up crowds). For me, if this thing is built and I'm going to a weeknight game, I'm not driving to the stadium or parking downtown! I'm taking the Turnpike south to the Sawgrass, then shooting down to the Turnpike again out in Miramar out to Doral. Why? Because I usually take my "old man" to the games with me and my son. In order for me to get to the games, I'm leaving my car at the Palmetto Metrorail station and taking the train to the games. That's how I went to see baseball games when I lived in Boston. That's also how I went to see baseball games when I lived in Montreal. If that is the site, the Government Center Metrorail station is going to be virtually attached to the stadium (it's that solid YELLOW box next to the "Minute Maid Overlay", with the GREEN LINE being the Metrorail line), so why bother with the hassle of paying upwards of $20.00 to park (and $20.00 is a reasonable number when you think how much people are hit for parking fees going to Heat games, and the cost of parking near Fenway is just as prohibitive!). Finally, if the team is consistently winning, people will go to the games. I don't hear many "Broward" or "Palm Beach" people whining about going to Heat games! We're talking about approximately 20,000 seats for a Heat game. Baseball in that site is going to have approximately 37,000 seats available, and at a much cheaper price than Heat tickets. Either the Broward whiners will come, or they'll just be replaced by South Dade folks. Location in this area doesn't dictate attendance, product dictates attendance. Weren't you the one that said the Hileah park idea would be nixed because the UDB couldn't be moved? Hmm. What happened there? What happened there was politics as usual. The retainer agreements I provide for my clients always state that when it comes to local governments, you can never guarantee a result. I never guaranteed it wasn't going to be there, I said it was unlikely. Plus, with most of the focus moving away from Hialeah Heights and now going to Government Center, the opposition that would have probably been mounted out there has been rendered moot. I'm sure you probably would have seen a few Chapter 163 lawsuits at the Hialeah Heights site.

I'll let you hear it for yourself (unless someone knows how to find an online feed and can post it here) he is very very upbeat and talking like this is a done deal. They've been using the footprints of existing modern stadiums (Camden Yards was one mentioned, I forget the others) and he says triumphantly "they all fit". I've heard Samson say in a few past interviews that theyve used the footprint of Minute Maid Park to judge how big ours is gonna be Everything lastely sounds very positive, lets pray this time we get the deal done Okay, kids, it's another installment of "SoFlaFish's Fun With Photoshop!" This time around the pictures from the three cities (Miami, Houston, and Baltimore) are the same scale (500') and they're all from Google Maps/Earth. Here is the site with what I assume to be the assembled parcels of land outlined in red: Here is the site with a Minute Maid Park overlay: Finally, here is an overlay of Camden Yards: Either way, it's going to be a tight squeeze in there, no bones about it.

From what I was told the biggest single problem with the site is as construction gets going they have less than one acre for staging, cranes, worksite material deliveries, concrete pumping, etc. They are going to need the lots of over by NW 1st (other side of MetroRail) to use as their main staging areas which will pretty much eliminate any surface parking in the downtown/government center area. I wouldn't be surprised the staging will be up by the Miami Arena on the CRA lots up there. I did a project once in downtown Fort Lauderdale where our staging was 2 miles north of the project site, it wasn't much of an area we needed (just one city block), for three condos downtown.

You may be right. I heard from someone a few minutes ago that they (MLB) are in fact positive they can site a stadium there with a collection of right of way closures and a few ruffled feathers in county hall when some people no longer have a view. PhotoShop and MSPaint can be a lot of fun. I decided just to create a "visual" of what the site could be like. I cropped Minute Maid Park from Google Maps, at approximately the same scale as the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Map (+/- 10'). The purpose of this is to give an approximate visual of what the park will look like crammed/jammed into those four parcels and the right-of-way. Basically, we could potentially have the Government Center Metrorail station be incorporated into the stadium and the folks on up to maybe the sixth to tenth floor of the Stephen Clark Gov't Center having a view of the stadium walls. However, if you go higher up in County Hall, those folks will get a good view of a game, much like folks watching a game from the Prudential Center in Boston, or the CN Tower in Toronto. Maybe I should get my resume in to the County Attorney's Office Here's what it should look like: Again, the TEAL outline is what I am assuming is the assembled lots, with all of them being County property except for the far western lot abutting I-95 which belongs to the City. The SOLID YELLOW AREA is the Government Center Metrorail Station. The CROSS-HATCHED YELLOW AREA is County Hall/Stephen P. Clark Center (basically the County Commission Building and most County Departments). The SOLID GREEN LINE is the Metrorail elevated platform. The SOLID BLUE AREAS are potential parking, including all the current parking areas that are FEC lots abutting the Metrorail line, as well as the current Miami Arena parking areas and Overtown Metrorail Station parking to the north. Also included is a CRA lot that is on the north and abutting I-95. The SOLID RED AREAS are the rights-of-way that I would vacate: NW 3rd AVE, NW 1st CT, NW 2nd AVE, and NW 4th ST. Believe it, or not, the diamond in the picture is pretty much facing in the same direction as it does at Dolphin Stadium. As it is situated in my simulation, home plate faces NE, with the sun setting behind 3rd base. ...but talk about ramming a square peg into a round hole!

I'm wondering out loud if a) the Herald simply has the story almost completely wrong (they already screwed up the address) or b) whether this is a diversion of some sort while negotiations go on privately elsewhere in the area. I hate to be a "conspiracy theorist" but your second point could make sense when you consider that every feasible parcel in the area I've outlined is owned by either the City, County, State, or FEC. Therefore, speculation in that area is minimal as the parties begin negotiating a deal elsewhere. However, things in government leak like water through a strainer. I feel confident that the assemblage of properties in the area I've pointed out eliminates any eminent domain proceedings since all the properties are public. And the only way it can work is if a portion of the Government Center parcel is used in order to even get close to 15 acres, which would be the minimum threshold for a park (i.e., Safeco Field). The vacating of rights-of-way is going to happen. That's what occurred in Houston with Enron Field. I pulled up the Harris County governmental information on the property and you see how many "paper rights-of-way" criss-cross the stadium parcel!

What about parking there? there would be like none. They're probably counting on all the FEC lots that are to the east of the property and run north under the Metrorail line up to the Miami Arena (seen in PINK in the map above). Then you have the Arena parking which is two blocks north. Most of the other off-site parking will be throughout downtown and then accessible to the park via the MetroMover and Metrorail since it looks like the Government Center Metrorail station is going to be right up against the ballpark.

BTW, the newest version on the Miami Herald's website corrects the location error I outlined above. The new version refers to the location as NW 3rd st but I still don't see how they could build a park there. Something is significantly missing from this story. The only feasible way that description is correct is if the assembled parcels result in what is outlined in TEAL below: As I posted in another thread, the BLUE properties belong to the CITY, the RED belong to the COUNTY, the YELLOW belong to the STATE (and there is NO WAY that the State of Florida is going to be required to move their State Offices from that location -- seriously, most State Agencies are located in those three buildings: FDEP, DCA, State, DCF, DOAg, and FDOT to name a few -- I've been there on business). That would mean the demolition of City buildings and portions of the Gov't Center property and having the stadium be literally up against County Hall and the Metrorail line (seen as the GREEN LINE)! It would also meant the vacating of several rights-of-way and the redesign of downtown traffic flows (oh, the traffic studies alone can make many an engineer very wealthy!) And even then, I just still don't see it adding up to enough acreage to construct a stadium with a retractable roof. I hope I'm wrong, but I've done too many land assemblies before not to see that this is not as easy as it appears. By the way, the CRA is about two blocks north of the northern TEAL boundary line, and the CRA owns two parcels just north of this site, but between this site and the CRA parcels is the USPS facility, and that is Federal land. Maybe it's time to hit up my "source" (I hate using that term, but I really don't like to divulge any possible hint as to who he is) for some insight, even though the last time I spoke with him he told me that MLB had taken over the whole thing and he was kept out of the loop.