Baseball's Reindeer Games Part Two

Hundreds of baseball supporters gather Monday to rally for the stadium lease vote by the D.C. Council at Freedom Plaza in Washington. Jay Westcott/Examiner.

I'd like to think that my blog entries from yesterday, "Maybe DC can learn that it has something that developers want," and "When you don't believe you're really "world class," you make bad deals ," had some influence on the Washington Examiner editorial today, "Approve the lease, then really play hardball" as well as Harry Jaffe's column, "What does D.C. have in common with Thelma and Louise?" Probably not though, but I like to think that being able to work with the nuances puts me ahead of the game. Tough to get a job though, it's a crock when you hear that people in positions of authority want to hear "truth being told to power."

From Jaffe's column:

...the 13 council members will be voting on a deal the city does not deserve - because Mayor Tony Williams settled for less, much less. The mayor and his people have put the council in an untenable situation.

If the council votes down the lease, its members suffer the potential ignominy of killing baseball in a town that has yearned for a team for three decades. But if council members accept the lease, they could go down in history as the elected officials who gave a blank check to Major League Baseball by agreeing to pay for the stadium's cost overruns...

Did I mention the $330 million baseball owners will collect when they sell the former Montreal Expos? My friend Orin told me that's the way business is done... "It's not a question of fairness," he says, "it's a question of what the market will bear. The mayor and the city should negotiate the best deal. We have to be realistic about what their leverage is." Apparently, the leverage amounted to how far the mayor could bend over before he fell on his face. The city begged for the team and never got off its knees...

My sources tell me that Bill Collins, a Washington native who is now a wealthy Virginian, has lined up $450 million to buy the team. He has arranged for a stadium site near Dulles Airport. He can work with Tim Kaine, the incoming governor, to back any necessary bonds.

At the rally, Joan Benesch, 80, who has lived in the District for 55 years, is no fan of baseball in the city . . . Katherine Frey/The Washington Post.

I still say that while Mayor Williams "negotiated" a terrible lease, Major League Baseball hasn't done him any favors either.

Index Keywords: baseball; stadiums-arenas