San Antonio gives Marlins a May 15 deadline

 

BY BARRY JACKSON

 

bjackson@MiamiHerald.com

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff on Monday set a May 15 deadline for the Marlins to respond to San Antonio's offer to help finance a stadium for the team.

 

The Marlins, who are exploring relocation, have declined to say how they would respond to a deadline.

 

Bexar County has offered to ask voters to extend a hotel and car rental tax to raise $200 million toward stadium funding. Wolff has said a memorandum of understanding must be reached with the Marlins by Aug. 15 to place the stadium issue on the November ballot.

 

Wolff on Monday planned to send faxes to MLB president Bob DuPuy and Marlins president David Samson to inform them of the deadline.

MLB doesn't like being pressured. I consider this a point of the informal end of San Antonio's current bid for the Marlins.

 

The fact is South Florida offers better options at this point in time than South Texas.

Good news to hear! MLB and the Marlins will not meet this deadline... MLB doesnt want to let this market go, Fish are here to stay!

Good news to hear! MLB and the Marlins will not meet this deadline... MLB doesnt want to let this market go, Fish are here to stay!

 

i REALLY hope that doesn't work anything like jynxing a nono man..

I don't see the point of San Antonio doing this now. Even if the Marlins committed to moving there, wouldn't San Antonio still have to pass a vote on the public funding of the stadium and wouldn't that have to wait until November anyway? What happens if the Marlins committ and in November the city votes down the public funding, then the Marlins are back at square one and have totally burnt the bridge in S. Fla. Doesn't make much sense to me and I fully expect the Marlins to tell San Antonio to take a hike with this deadline.

I think this is a shrewd move on SA's part. All the deadline is asking for is for the Fish to enter a "Memorandum of Understanding" by May 15th, which can easily be broken and could contain several "out" provisions should the Marlins obtain stadium funding for a South Florida site. Basically, it is an "agree to agree" document, and it would most likely only be enforceable by San Antonio should the Marlins decide to flee South FL for another city (not SA). Even then, SA could probably only get money damages, which would probably have to be paid by the "other" city that the Marlins picked over SA. I think it forces the Marlins to stop their search completely and focus on SA v. South FL, which is basically a smart play to completely remove North Carolina, Las Vegas, etc.

 

In the end, I see it working in favor of South FL, by CLEARLY STATING that if the Fish don't get a stadium here they're SA-bound, which a lot of people say but few truly believe. When that happens, the clock starts to really tick in South FL.

If the Marlins enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with anyone outside of the State of Florida, they can kiss their current bid good-bye.

San Antonio will relax on the deadline. They just want some assurance they aren't strictly being used as leverage. Honestly it's in the Marlins' favor to not have them appear as such either... even if that's all they are. Look for the Marlins to make some "progress" with Bexar soon.

San Antonio will relax on the deadline. They just want some assurance they aren't strictly being used as leverage. Honestly it's in the Marlins' favor to not have them appear as such either... even if that's all they are. Look for the Marlins to make some "progress" with Bexar soon.

 

Texas requires ballot measures for November be in by August 15. Relaxing the May deadline is not an easy proposition considering voters have to approve the funding and there are many details needing work like a site and how the Marlins will finance their $100 million portion.

Originally posted by rferry: San Antonio will relax on the deadline. They just want some assurance they aren't strictly being used as leverage. Honestly it's in the Marlins' favor to not have them appear as such either... even if that's all they are. Look for the Marlins to make some "progress" with Bexar soon.

 

I agree. If anyone is in the hot seat it would be the Marlins, not SA. I for one feel that we have been w/o a 2nd pro team, we can't lose what we don't have. Image being in the Marlins' position, If they don't commit to SA, they may end up holding the empty bag. I would think that BLANK rolls down hill, meaning the Marlins' will pressure SFl officials as well.

San Antonio will relax on the deadline. They just want some assurance they aren't strictly being used as leverage. Honestly it's in the Marlins' favor to not have them appear as such either... even if that's all they are. Look for the Marlins to make some "progress" with Bexar soon.

 

i was worried about that..

Missing this dealine, which is inevitable, is going to create some ill-will with SA. I suspect it would easily be dismissed if the Marlins ever seriously considered a move to SA. The one thing missing the deadline will do is reduce any perceived leverage the Marlins may think they have with the South Florida politicos.

San Antonio will relax on the deadline. They just want some assurance they aren't strictly being used as leverage. Honestly it's in the Marlins' favor to not have them appear as such either... even if that's all they are. Look for the Marlins to make some "progress" with Bexar soon.

 

Texas requires ballot measures for November be in by August 15. Relaxing the May deadline is not an easy proposition considering voters have to approve the funding and there are many details needing work like a site and how the Marlins will finance their $100 million portion.

Cape, the problem is that Bexar is unsure the Marlins are serious. Not that things need to be done fast. This is not a race. Hialeah is not racing against San Antonio. We both know that if Hialeah projects to finish the race, they'll be given the gold. The problem is that San Antonio suspects that and wants some assurance they'll be given a real shot to make their pitch.

 

We know Bexar is far behind Dade County. No need pointing it out again and again as if it's a statement of the project's expectant failure. It isn't. Bexar has many months to sort this all out to have a ballpark completed by 2010. To be fair, the Marlins can't make a commitment to them until then, because they want to stay in South Florida. Yes, Bexar has a long way to go. Yes, it's not easy. But the purchasing of land is cheaper to do in San Antonio. And in the end MLB and the Marlins (or any prospective team that may move to San Antonio) will likely succeed in having the town finance atleast a portion of theirs. Take the $30M the Marlins have offered upfront to Dade and initial payments of stadium naming rights, you're talking about close to half the Marlins' proposed required commitment. (Of course we both know the ballpark won't cost $300M.)

 

The deadline is a red herring, but something for the Marlins to take into consideration about their relationship with Bexar. Hard to get married when you promote yourself as a two-faced player.

seems to be they are waiting on the UBD line if so 11xx acres with acess to turnpike and I-75. what do you guy think Miami give them the land but they got to give a portion of that to the staduim for free or the county will tell Hialeah and Codina take a hike you will not build on that land.. I think they are waiting to see what Happens with the UBD line if they get it. you can start the ball rolling

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY ABSURD!!! A judge does not have the power to force a team or organization to make a move by a certain date. As far as I'm concerned, this judge should be disbarred for illegally using his legislative power.

As head negotiator, the Judge has full right to determine when to pull his offer

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY ABSURD!!! A judge does not have the power to force a team or organization to make a move by a certain date. As far as I'm concerned, this judge should be disbarred for illegally using his legislative power.

 

 

He's not a real judge. He's an elected politician who's only duties are leading the so called "Commissioner's Court". The titles are given within the Texas State Constitution. They are the county's equivalent to a city council, not an actual court.

 

All he is doing is giving a deadline for a Letter of Intent, and the deadline he gave is after Hialeah says they'll have a final decision, and about the time that Samson originally said they wanted to make their decision back in December.

 

It's kind of like apartment leases that say you have to notify management of your intent to move our 30 days before you do, or they automatically assume you want to renew it. That kind of thing. Doesn't really mean much of anything except that if the Marlins choose to ignore the deadline, then come back later they probably won't get as good a deal as they could have.

rferry Posted Yesterday, 01:34 PM

As head negotiator, the Judge has full right to determine when to pull his offer

 

I agree, the judge has done an outstanding job through this entire process to include the deadline. With all due respect, if it pisses off the Marlins, then so be it...good luck with Hialeah. As I mention before, we can't lose what we don't have. :cowboy GO TEXAS!

 

 

 

rferry Posted Yesterday, 01:34 PM

As head negotiator, the Judge has full right to determine when to pull his offer

 

I agree, the judge has done an outstanding job through this entire process to include the deadline. With all due respect, if it pisses off the Marlins, then so be it...good luck with Hialeah. As I mention before, we can't lose what we don't have. :cowboy GO TEXAS!