fanfish

Where will the Marlins play if the stadium is full of evacuees?

Just saw this on the Herald on line. Has anyone heard anything about this? Q. Any updates on the stadium? Do you think if the Marlins make a playoff push again shortly after the 2003 push, that they might actually put wheel in motion? Phil, Orlando, Fl 8/20/05 A. The Marlins' success on the field nor ownership's commitment to winning, sadly, does not seem to have much impact with political leaders. However the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County are apparently pursuing a new way to bridge the funding shortfall on the stadium. The plan now is to seek approval to gather money from a tax on phone cards. Kevin Baxter 8/21/05

I recently received a package from the Marlins encouraging me to reorder season tickets for next season. It also contained a letter from David Samson that said , ?when you remain a season ticket holder, you will continue to maintain priority in our new stadium. We hope to have great news about our future home very soon.? It could just be a sales pitch, but he did not have to mention the ?very soon? part if it weren?t true. We?ll see soon enough, I guess.

As a citizen of this state I have the right to ask the State of Florida to help pay for whatever I want. The State helps pay for many things that I don't consider important so why can't I expect them to help pay for what I consider is important to me. In my opinion, the hicks in the other parts of Florida don't want to help out with any of South Florida needs or desires for many reasons. Some of which are not very pretty.

The county will be the owner of the stadium, and therefore the naming rights money would most likely be theirs. Of course, there could be a proportional split of the money among all involved since there would not be a stadium if all three parties were not cooperating. If they could find a decent non-gambling sponsor that could pay to have their name on the stadium, it could ease the economic burden of all involved and we could have our stadium for 2008!!!!

May 19, 2005 In the beginning, in 1993, every thing was good. We had a new baseball team in the owner?s stadium. No problems. Then the search began. The search for the NEW MARLINS STADIUM (NMS)! Mr. Owner said that he will build his own stadium in Wayne?s world. Remember? Blockbuster Park was to be built on the Dade-Broward line, and the NMS was going to be a part of it. Well Wayne sold Blockbuster and that was the end of that. Wayne wanted to see, ?if he spent it, will they come?? Big bucks were spent and the 1997 World Series was ours. We celebrated a whole day. Then the axe came. According to Wayne he spent more than they came, so realizing that public money was not to be given to a multi-millionaire, he broke the team so that he could sell it. Attendance plummeted. For a while there were no serious takers. Then along came Henry. Our savior. He even had a white (kind of weird) cowboy hat. We were told of the horrible lease he had at PP Stadium and that he had to have a NMS. We were told not to worry because if push came to shove, he would build the stadium himself. They pushed and later shoved. He asked for help anyway. Locations were debated and chosen (by the river). We need cash. First Governor Bush said no to tax Mickey Arison?s boats, then the Legislature said no. Strike one. Finally the city and county said they had the funding and agreed to the deal for the NMS, but nobody could find Henry. Where is Henry? Hennnnnnnry! Hennnnnnnnry! It turns out that our friend Henry got fed up with the whole thing a few months before the solution was found and he had been talking to his bud, Bud. Bud in turn had been talking to his bud Loria. The switcharoo was on. And Bud said, ?Henry, you take the Sox and give the Marlins to Loria. Loria, you take the Fish and give us the Expos. We?ll take the Expos and sell it to somebody in D.C. later. In the mean time we had to endure contraction talk. Remember that? We were in the short list of teams that would go poof in the night and disappear. Attendance plummeted. In comes Loria. The town, by this time, was very skeptical to say the least. All in the media were trying to figure out not ?if?, but ?how? and ?when? he would stick it to the fans and South Florida. A bad season was followed by a World Series season in 2003 that came out of the blue. There was talk of a NMS again. Back to the Legislature in 2004. Strike two. In early 2005 a site was picked again. The NMS was going to be next to the Orange Bowl. After many months, deadlines and meetings the city, county and team agreed on a plan. Back to the Legislature. Strrrrrrrrrrike Threeeeeeeeee. Now we hear: 1. The city and county want the team to stay but can?t give any more money. 2. The team wants to stay but can?t give any more money, won?t give up the roof on the NMS and is exploring all their options. 3. The Governor may call a special session. 4. Las Vegas vultures have been sighted. 5. MLB gave a deadline for all involved to get their act together. 6. Barry Bond has a knee infection (that?s all they talk about in ESPN). Meanwhile we fans wonder and wait for the next piece of news. Personally I?m tired. I?ve been following this story almost daily for too long. They have been talking, discussing and meeting about the NMS for about ten years and still nothing. Attendance for now is doing fine, but I wonder for how much longer we will be asked to emotionally back a team if we don?t know if it is going to be here next year or the year after that . I wonder also how many fans would go to see the Cubs, the Cardinals or the Red Sox play if they thought their team were moving to Las Vegas or elsewhere. And still Marlins fans get criticized for their ?lack of support.? Give me a break! There, I?ve vented. I feel better, at least for now.

I think the "deadline" that MLB has given the team, county and city to complete the negotiations for the new stadium is to give it a sense of urgency. We all know that without a deadline there is no hurry to do get it done. The possibility that the governor may call a special session of the Florida Legislature to discuss the Marlins stadium may actually delay negotiations. If I were one of the parties in a business negotiation I would not offer to contribute any more money (we are talking millions) to a project if there were a chance that the State could still kick in some cash. In my humble opinion, the chances that the State will help this year are very slim, especially while Mr. Lee is the Senate president and Mr. Brummer is the chairman of the Finance Committee in the House. I don't know the rules that the special session will go by, but if they are similar the ones used in the regular session, I am not optimistic. Would it be a Marlins-only bill, or would it have the NASCAR thing etc attached to it? If it were a Marlins-only bill, would it need to pass the House again before going to the Senate? And if so, would it need to go by the committee route or could it go straight to the floor of the House? In the Senate, could it go to the floor without needing a 2/3 vote? I personally think that there will be no special session, that the State will not give a penny, that the negotiations will drag on like they always do, that datelines will come and go with no results, that the team, city and county will finally come up with a deal maybe by the end of the year, in time to get the stadium built by the start of the 2008 season. The reason for my thinking this are many but the most important one is the way that Miami Mayor Manny Diaz went to bat for the stadium deal in recent weeks. Before this happened I did not think he was a big supporter of the Marlins. He has been a strong leader in the City and with his help I think the stadium deal will EVENTUALLY get done.

I think the "deadline" that MLB has given the team, county and city to complete the negotiations for the new stadium is to give it a sense of urgency. We all know that without a deadline there is no hurry to do get it done. The possibility that the governor may call a special session of the Florida Legislature to discuss the Marlins stadium may actually delay negotiations. If I were one of the parties in a business negotiation I would not offer to contribute any more money (we are talking millions) to a project if there were a chance that the State could still kick in some cash. In my humble opinion, the chances that the State will help this year are very slim, especially while Mr. Lee is the Senate president and Mr. Brummer is the chairman of the Finance Committee in the House. I don't know the rules that the special session will go by, but if they are simmilar the the ones used in the regular session, I am not optimistic. Would it be a Marlins-only bill, or would it have the NASCAR thing etc attached to it? If it were a Marlins-only bill, would it need to pass the House again before going to the Senate? And if so , would it need to go by the committee route or could it go straight to the floor of the House? In the Senate, could it go to the floor without needing a 2/3 vote? I personally think that there will be no special session, that the State will not give a penny, that the negotiations will drag on like they always do, that datelines will come and go with no results, that the team, city and county will finally come up with a deal maybe by the end of the year, in time to get the stadium built by the start of the 2008 season. The reason for my thinking this are many but the most important one is the way that Miami Mayor Manny Diaz went to bat for the stadium deal in recent weeks. Before this happened I did not think he was a big supporter of the Marlins. He has been a strong leader in the City and with his help I think the stadium deal will EVENTUALLY get done.