Thanks to Linda there might not be baseball in DC

[jbooma]

She just told the mayor she won't agree unless he finds 50% in private funding on the night of the deal :doh:

[GShock]

This is amazing. I cannot believe they screwed this up. If you're baseball, what exactly is your incentive not to get on the phone with Las Vegas, Portland, Charlotte, etc. now?

[skinsmatic]

Let them go! DC doesn't need to be spending a lot of money for Baseball. It's not a necessity. If DC increases taxes for Baseball Stadium, then anyone who votes for it will be voted out of office next election. Bottom line is whoever buys the team, should be responsible for all cost.

[Om]

I think it was PT Barnum who said:

“Never underestimate the incompetence of the individuals charged with running the District of Columbia.”

[PCRoughrider]

I am firmly convinced that Linda Cropp has lost her mind.

She could have killed baseball in Washington anytime. Why wait until the last minute?

[SkinInsite]

There's still Northern Virginia.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Originally posted by SkinInsite
There's still Northern Virginia.
You are more optimistic than I am:laugh:

[Yusuf06]

The funny thing about this is that baseball needs DC much more than DC needs baseball. If they wanted to relocate a small market team to another small market and duplicate the same problems, let them do it. Had Anthony Williams driven a harder bargain, Cropp might not have needed to pull her last minute shenanigans.

[afparent]

Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said the team's "business and promotional activities will cease until further notice." A previously scheduled news conference to unveil new uniforms was called off.

www.espn.go.com

[afparent]

Originally posted by SkinInsite
There's still Northern Virginia.

Wouldn't the problem with No Virginia be they would have to play at RFK for two years? Would DC Council buy off on that?

Someone has to explain this to me. We have seen what new ballparks do for B-more, Cleveland, Detroit, etc. Jobs, money, etc. I just don't understand. Don't tell me they could spend the money on schools and such. What money? They haven't done anything so far. Plus that is apples and oranges.

[spanishomelette]

Originally posted by GShock
This is amazing. I cannot believe they screwed this up. If you're baseball, what exactly is your incentive not to get on the phone with Las Vegas, Portland, Charlotte, etc. now?

Portland ? Portland ?! Bwaahaahaahahahaha :wringshandsevilly:

[SAMB0]

lol dumb ass *****

[Larry Brown #43]

Originally posted by Yusuf06
The funny thing about this is that baseball needs DC much more than DC needs baseball. If they wanted to relocate a small market team to another small market and duplicate the same problems, let them do it. Had Anthony Williams driven a harder bargain, Cropp might not have needed to pull her last minute shenanigans.

I disagree. The truth is, if Williams had driven a harder bargain, we probably wouldn't have gotten the team in the first place. It's clear baseball wanted nothing to do with DC because of the Orioles/Angelos factor. After all, MLB had opportunity after opportunity over the years to put a team here, but passed us by every time. They put two expansion teams in Florida without so much as considering DC. If they "needed" DC as much as you think, we would have had a team here years ago.

Cropp and her cronies overestimated DC's leverage, and we're about to lose the team because of it. The sad thing is if she just tweaks a couple of words in the legislation, we could still explore private financing while guaranteeing baseball that the stadium would get built. But it appears Cropp is too obstinate to consider it.

Cropp's "last minute shenanigans" were a slimy maneuver designed to gain political capital for herself. I hope it blows up in her face, one way or another.

[Leonard Washington]

i'm torn. i'm not a big baseball fan but i was willing to give the nats a try. i understand cropp feels that the people shouldn't foot the bill for a stadium as if RFK is an unrepairable death trap (might be) or that baseball can't afford to split the bill. however it was a shady move to try to change the deal up at the last minute. i'm torn. :(

[Yusuf06]

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree LB43. According to this article (http://www.harbus.org/news/2002/09/23/Sports/Baseballs.Social.Responsibility-279507.shtml) only about 20% of MLB franchises are profitable. MLB needs another unprofitable small market team like it needs a hole in the head. Now whether or not they'd call DC's bluff is debateable. However, were I Anthony Williams I would have kept the very real possibility of MLB contraction in mind when making the original deal and squeezed them as much as I could.

[Larry Brown #43]

Originally posted by Yusuf06
I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree LB43. According to this article (http://www.harbus.org/news/2002/09/23/Sports/Baseballs.Social.Responsibility-279507.shtml) only about 20% of MLB franchises are profitable. MLB needs another unprofitable small market team like it needs a hole in the head. Now whether or not they'd call DC's bluff is debateable. However, were I Anthony Williams I would have kept the very real possibility of MLB contraction in mind when making the original deal and squeezed them as much as I could.
Let's not forget that MLB let the Expos flounder in Montreal for years, even going so far as to have them split their home games between San Juan, Puerto Rico and Montreal, when they could have simply relocated them to DC. They were obviously in no hurry to put the team here.

Let's also not forget that MLB put teams in Tamps and Miami without even discussing DC, and those two teams are financial disasters. As far as MLB was concerned, DC might as well have been Siberia. It wasn't until Williams gave them a deal that got their attention that they even looked in our direction.

The other important thing to remember here is that MLB will have similar situations in the future with other cities, whether it be through relocation or expansion. They have to stand their ground with DC, or else risk compromising future dealings with other cities. If they compromise with DC, other cities will realize that MLB can be bargained with even after an agreement is signed...and that's a slippery slope MLB wants no parts of.

[Yusuf06]

Let's also not forget that MLB put teams in Tamps and Miami without even discussing DC, and those two teams are financial disasters. As far as MLB was concerned, DC might as well have been Siberia. It wasn't until Williams gave them a deal that got their attention that they even looked in our direction.

I think MLB ignoring DC had a lot more (meaning 100%) to do with Peter Angelos' objections than with them simply not wanting to put a team in DC. Do you honestly think they'd have ignored us in favor of the cities you mentioned without the Angelos factor ?

[Larry Brown #43]

Originally posted by Yusuf06


I think MLB ignoring DC had a lot more (meaning 100%) to do with Peter Angelos' objections than with them simply not wanting to put a team in DC. Do you honestly think they'd have ignored us in favor of the cities you mentioned without the Angelos factor ?

I absolutely agree that Angelos/the Orioles was by far the biggest factor in baseball shunning DC. But that's my point--baseball was so concerned about and fearful of Angelos that we had to blow MLB away with a fantastic stadium offer for them to even consider us. That's why I don't think it's fair to blame Mayor Williams for not driving a harder bargain.

When the last minute political wrangling threatened to blow up the deal, Peter Gammons reported that some high-ups at MLB were actually hoping that the deal WOULD fall apart, because they were so fed up with the shenanigans of the DC Council. Even Linda Cropp herself stated in a radio interview that people like Adrian Fenty underestimated MLB's willingness to pull the plug on the DC experiment if acceptable legislation wasn't passed.

But the important thing now is that we got the team, and it's time to celebrate that. I truly hope as we move forward that the civic pride that develops from this team overshadows the political division that came out of the deal.

[spanishomelette]

Drats