http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10717639.htm

 

 

 

BASEBALL STADIUM

 

Marlins deal running out of time

 

Labeled ''terrorists'' for their negotiation methods, the Florida Marlins are in a familiar position: stumbling in their effort to get state help to build a stadium.

 

BY MARC CAPUTO

mcaputo@herald.com

 

 

TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Marlins have accomplished the seemingly impossible in their short life span: They have won two World Series titles in a decade, yet failed to persuade a business-boosting, sports-happy Legislature to give them a tax subsidy for a new stadium.

 

This year marks the fourth time the Marlins will ask for a subsidy -- now totaling $60 million. And already a powerful politician who could kill the proposal has labeled the team ``terrorists.''

 

Senate President Tom Lee this week hurled the accusation -- later watering the epithet down to ''blackmail'' -- after the team met with Las Vegas officials, suggesting it might leave Florida. Marlins President David Samson, who wouldn't comment on Lee's pejoratives, said the team wasn't trying to exert undue pressure.

 

Whatever the motivation, the trip to Vegas was interpreted as a threat by city, county and state politicians, constituting yet another public-relations misstep for the team, which nevertheless faces a good chance to get state money. Since 2000, its subsidy requests have been doomed by a combination of the tricky politics of Miami-Dade and the state Legislature, as well as what critics say is the team's arrogance.

 

''They think they're more important than they are,'' said state Rep. Gus Barreiro, a Miami Beach Republican. ``When the average citizen sees them paying millions to a player for his salary, it's difficult to understand why [the Marlins] are asking for someone's hard-earned tax money and not paying for everything themselves.''

 

Barreiro tried to persuade the Marlins in 2003 to borrow the needed money at a cheap rate from the nation's largest union-owned insurance company, ULLICO, as long as it used union labor during construction. The deal fell through.

 

$60 MILLION SHORT

 

All told, the 38,000-seat, retractable-roof, air-conditioned stadium the Marlins are seeking to build would cost $420 million, including the cost of land. The Marlins plan to pay about $192 million. Subtracting city and county help, the project needs another $60 million.

 

Team President Samson said the Marlins don't have the finances to completely pay for a new stadium and are locked into a money-losing deal at Dolphins Stadium, which the team must leave by 2010. He said the team deserves the subsidy because seven other sports teams in Florida already get it.

 

''The government provides subsidies and incentives for business to locate and do business in a certain place,'' Samson said. ``We just want to be afforded the same opportunities that other businesses, and other sports teams in the state, already have.''

 

A WRINKLE IN LOGIC

 

There's a wrinkle in Samson's logic, however.

 

The franchise technically already received the money when the Marlins started playing baseball in 1993. Then-owner Wayne Huizenga persuaded lawmakers to give him the money to retrofit the Dolphins' football stadium to accommodate baseball. Huizenga kept the cash, but sold the team.

 

In fact, Huizenga did more than recoup the cost of the $10 million retrofit: He'll get an additional $50 million from taxpayers because of the way the subsidy program is structured. It guarantees a team owner the right to collect $2 million annually from the state for 30 years once the state certifies that the team generates at least $2 million in sales tax collections in its first year.

 

Last year, as lawmakers flirted with steep healthcare cuts, then-Senate President Jim King said the perception of such ''corporate welfare'' made it tough to contemplate helping the Marlins. But what really doomed the team's effort was the fact that it dallied in filing a bill, one of the most essential tasks in any legislature.

 

The team's proposal surfaced only two weeks before the end of the 60-day spring lawmaking session. By that point, slowness, not speed, kills. And the proposal wasn't easy to spot. It surfaced on page 16 of a 17-page House bill concerning taxes, mortgages and escrow accounts.

 

There was no companion legislation in the Senate -- another near-must. Also, Samson said at the time that the financing request was ''now or never,'' something that lawmakers saw as a veiled threat.

 

To Capitol observers, it all looked like a replay of 2001, when the owner of the team at the time, John Henry, said the Marlins would leave Florida unless it got a roofed stadium. The team, which had won a 1997 World Series, said it could never repeat that because the field was too rainy. The Marlins, under Jeffrey Loria's new ownership, won the title again in 2003.

 

The team didn't file a stand-alone bill in 2001. Instead, it slipped language into a bill largely consisting of technical cleanup provisions in the tax code, and a few minor, agreed-upon tax breaks. When House leaders larded the bill with pet proposals, the Senate killed it on the last day of session.

 

`NO BILL, NO VOTE'

 

''In the Senate, things are pretty simple: We want to know what we're voting on,'' said Sen. Alex Villalobos, a Miami Republican who sponsored the measure in 2001 but let it die when things became murky. ``And if there's no bill, there's no vote.''

 

Now, once again, there's no bill. And Villalobos predicts a tough time ahead for the Marlins if the team doesn't file one before the March legislative session.

 

Unlike some of his colleagues, Villalobos said he didn't perceive the Marlins' recent trip to Las Vegas as a threat or a devious strategy. ''If they want to leave, they can,'' Villalobos said.

 

Samson said the team wants to stay in South Florida. And he said this year is different. Unlike in the past, the team is firming up its stadium-financing plans with the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County.

 

But Samson wouldn't explain why it has yet to find a bill sponsor at the same time. Samson also said he didn't see any mistakes with the team's last-minute lobbying effort last year.

 

DIFFERENT STRATEGY

 

In contrast to 2001, when the team failed to inform Miami-Dade lawmakers of its plans, it has kept the local delegation in the loop. But Samson is still using language that some could perceive as threatening. In a recent letter to House Speaker Allan Bense, he said ''the future of Major League Baseball in South Florida hinges'' on the subsidy.

 

No such letter was sent to Lee.

 

Lee said he didn't feel slighted. But he said he's still plenty angry with the team over its Las Vegas trip, after which he said ''I don't negotiate with terrorists.'' ''I'm still willing to keep an open mind about this. I said I would give them a fair shot,'' he said. ``But they're going to have to change the way they play this game.''

LETS JUST RENAME THE TEAM THE LAS VEGAS GAMBLERS, AND BUILD A STADIUM ON THE STRIP.

LETS JUST RENAME THE TEAM THE LAS VEGAS GAMBLERS, AND BUILD A STADIUM ON THE STRIP.

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You know, for a Marlins fan, you're a little TOO negative...and LOUD! :thumbdown

It'd be such a shame if the deal can't get done. We've accomplished more than any franchise in their first 11 years. Plus Miami is a great sports town.

 

 

FREAKING SELL THE D-RAYS !!!!!!!!!!!!

It'd be such a shame if the deal can't get done. We've accomplished more than any franchise in their first 11 years. Plus Miami is a great sports town.

 

 

FREAKING SELL THE D-RAYS !!!!!!!!!!!!

676264[/snapback]

 

 

I agree with you except for one thing.....Miami IS NOT a great sports town. At least the fans in general aren't very good.

True but I'm from Philly.... now thats a sad sports town. I can only wait to hear how many people jumped off buildings after the eagles lose sunday

It'd be such a shame if the deal can't get done. We've accomplished more than any franchise in their first 11 years. Plus Miami is a great sports town.

 

 

FREAKING SELL THE D-RAYS !!!!!!!!!!!!

676264[/snapback]

 

right with you!