MLB wants to keep Marlins in Florida

Fish are the only team in Majors still facing stadium issues

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

 

 

NAPLES, Fla. -- With the A's ballpark situation being addressed 3,000 miles away on Tuesday, Major League Baseball's focus has now turned to securing a new home for the Marlins, the sport's No. 2 official said during a break in a morning meeting among the general managers.

 

"We want to keep baseball in South Florida," Bob DuPuy, MLB's president and chief operating officer, said unequivocally.

 

The A's are formally announcing a move from Oakland to the South Bay city of Fremont, Calif., leaving the Marlins as the sole MLB franchise still facing difficult stadium issues.

 

Since a deal to build a new ballpark in Miami fell through last year, the Marlins have been combing the area for a place to move.

 

"We'll [build] wherever we can get a ballpark," DuPuy said. "For the team, it has to be in a location where it makes sense as far as the demographics, where it makes sense as far as the traffic flow, the accessibility and the climate."

 

Since 2002, MLB's stadium efforts have been bifurcated, to say the least, between Montreal/Washington, D.C., Minnesota, Oakland and Florida. But each of the other issues are now solved. The Expos moved to the nation's capital where a new stadium is being built with the goal of opening in time for the 2008 season. Last summer, the Minnesota Legislature approved funding for a ballpark in downtown Minneapolis, ending a protracted political process there. And little more than a year after Lew Wolff's group took over ownership of the A's, that franchise has gone into a co-operative deal with CISCO Systems to build a high-tech park.

 

Since 1991, when U.S. Cellular Field replaced old Comiskey Park in Chicago, 23 Major League ballparks have either been replaced or refurbished, including a complete renovation on tap for Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium and new ballparks in New York to replace Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium in 2009.

 

"Almost every one of them has brought the fan closer to the game, and in many cases, has served as a destination point and a hub of urban renewal," DuPuy said. "It's been terrific, but it's a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American game. There will be others, as we move along. There are a couple of existing ballparks that people aren't very fond of, so we'll see. But right now, if we can get a new ballpark in Oakland and a new ballpark in South Florida, it will be a terrific coup."

 

In South Florida, after deals in Miami and Hialeah fell through, the Marlins were allowed to explore moving the franchise to another state. But a possible shift to San Antonio was essentially nixed by MLB, which has decided to keep the team where it is for the time being.

 

Much of DuPuy's time over the past three years has been utilized settling the relocation of the Expos to Washington, working with the D.C. City Council to approve and fund the new stadium, and dealing with the sale of the franchise from MLB to the Lerner family, which took over control late this past season.

 

Since the Marlins expanded into the National League in 1993, they have played in what is now called Dolphin Stadium, an open-air football facility that is home to the NFL's Miami Dolphins. The baseball team has a lease to play there through 2010, but has been told it must find a new venue by 2011.

 

The Marlins have won the World Series twice in their short existence (1997 and 2003), but three separate ownership groups have found it almost impossible to fund and build a new ballpark in South Florida.

 

Jeffery Loria and his group of minority partners purchased the Marlins on Feb. 15, 2002. Loria had previously owned the Expos, but he and president David Samson were unable to get a new stadium in Montreal to save that franchise. At the same time, MLB purchased the Expos from Loria, and John Henry, the previous Marlins owner, became part of a group that bought the Red Sox.

 

Despite defeating the Yankees to win the 2003 World Series, Samson claimed that the Marlins were losing in excess of $30 million a year. After the Miami stadium deal collapsed in 2005, Loria ordered the team gutted and the player payroll was reduced to $15 million this past season.

 

Though the Marlins were surprisingly competitive this past season, they drew a National League low 1,165,120 at home, well below the league average of 2,598,741. They attracted a high of 3,064,847 during their inaugural 1993 season, but since then have only exceeded 2 million once -- in 1997.

 

The current stadium is located north of downtown Miami, not far from Fort Lauderdale, and the Marlins have explored keeping the team in that vicinity or moving it downtown. In the best case scenario, the Marlins need a ballpark that has a retractable roof, giving fans certainty that games will be played during summer months in South Florida when the heat and humidity is a constant and showers are always expected.

 

DuPuy said on Tuesday he is still not ruling out that kind of facility in Miami.

 

"We're not dead downtown," he said. "We're going to look at every opportunity in South Florida that meets the fans' needs and the team's needs."

 

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

It's always good when they address this at the Meetings. They've realized that other cities have been having stadium issues and got their situation resolved and we're the only ones that have been having this problem for over 10 years now. Let's see if they decide to do anything now.

Figures we are the last franchise to get this issue resolved.

better late than never

better late than never

 

Agreed.