12/21/2004 3:33 AM ET

D.C., MLB pave way for new deal

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

 

 

District of Columbia Mayor Anthony A. Williams and Council Chair Linda Cropp reached an agreement late Monday night on a financing package for a new stadium that could pave the way for the Washington Nationals to remain in the nation's capital.

The agreement to help fund a new 41,000-seat ballpark near the Anacostia River south of the Capitol came only hours before Tuesday's final District of Columbia Council session, the last prior to a Dec. 31 contractual deadline when the deal might have expired.

 

The full 13-member Council still has to approve the revised package in a vote Tuesday, and then MLB would have to approve the decision as well. If both sides move forward, the transition of the Montreal Expos to the Washington Nationals will be complete.

 

"We are now able to bring baseball to our city," Williams said late Monday night in a hastily called press conference. "But we can do it in a way that I think protects our city in terms of risks, in terms of costs, in terms of the overall integrity of the deal."

 

MLB has all but halted club operations since last Tuesday, when the District City Council narrowly voted to alter the agreement to require at least 50 percent private ballpark funding. The original deal called for the ballpark to be paid for with publicly generated funds.

 

Monday's compromise plan struck by the three principals would allow for some private financing of the ballpark and splits the costs overruns and missed construction deadlines evenly between the city and Major League Baseball, Williams' spokesman Chris Bender told The Associated Press.

 

Bob DuPuy, MLB's president and chief operating officer, said he was now optimistic that the deal would be approved in its abridged form.

 

"We remain hopeful that the Council will pass legislation consistent with the stadium agreement so we can move forward with the Nationals in D.C.," said DuPuy, who negotiated with the District contingent via telephone from New York.

 

DuPuy said on Sunday that MLB wouldn't be adverse to a plan that included private financing, but baseball "had no intention" of extending the end-of-the-year deadline stipulated in the original agreement.

 

That deal, signed by MLB and Williams on Sept. 29, called for the stadium to be paid for by a special assessment on only the biggest businesses in the District, plus fees charged to fans, who actually attend games at the facility. No general funds dollars were earmarked for the project, although the bonds written to pay for construction costs would be backed by the full faith and credit of the city.

 

That deal also called for the District to pay $19 million to the new owners of the Nationals to help defray costs if the ballpark was not completed in time for the 2008 season. The team is slated to play at 43-year-old RFK Stadium for at least the next three seasons.

 

That cost would no longer be solely a city liability under Monday's abridged deal.

 

The Mayor's office will keep the council informed on all private funding proposals it receives, The AP reported. In return, Cropp agreed to drop an amendment she introduced last week that would void the deal if the city couldn't find a private investor to pay at least half the construction costs.

 

"We can basically buy liability insurance for that," said Bender. "The city and baseball would split the cost of that evenly."

 

The original bill passed a first reading in the D.C. Council by a 6-4 vote with three abstentions.

 

Two weeks later, the amended bill barely squeezed through by a 7-6 margin after an 11-hour meeting that ended just before midnight this past Tuesday.

 

"I think baseball will help improve the morale of our city," Williams said on Washington's WTOP Radio. "But we can also do it in a way that [helps] our city."

 

Washington has been without MLB since the expansion Senators left for Texas after the 1971 season. The Padres almost left San Diego and moved there in 1973, but since then, there has been no real opportunity for the District to acquire a Major League franchise. Until now.

 

MLB, which has owned and operated the franchise for the past three years, has been actively trying to relocate it for the past two seasons.

 

The owners voted, 29-1, to approve the original contingency deal earlier this month and is expected to approve the revamped agreement if the City Council grants its approval.

 

At this late date, MLB seemed to have few viable options for the team, considering the logistics of the long-approved schedule that had the Nationals slated to play a schedule out of the National League East.

 

Norfolk, Va., one of the contenders for the team, was being given consideration, but its minor-league facility would have to be quickly expanded to house a Major League team. The same is true for Portland, Ore., which completed its ballpark plan at the witching hour before MLB announced the franchise's move to Washington.

 

As it stands now, the commission that oversees RFK Stadium has to invest $13 million to make the facility ready for baseball and has only three months in which to do it. The newly christened Nationals are scheduled to open the season on April 4 at Philadelphia and play their home opener against Arizona at RFK Stadium on April 14.

 

 

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. Jeff Seidel contributed. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

If there was no deal, where would the Nationals end up playing, and would they still be called the Washington Nationals?