Outsports Discussion Board > Nationals and DC Stadium Politics

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PennState4Ever

Feb 7 2006, 08:09 PM

Is the party over?

D.C. Council Rejects Lease for Stadium

QUOTE

The District of Columbia Council rejected a lease for the Washington Nationals' new ballpark on Tuesday, leaving the Washington government and Major League Baseball headed to arbitration.

This entire mess needs to be read through the lens of a retiring mayor and a wide-open mayoral race with a fast approaching primary. (DC party politics being what they are, the primary IS the election.)

[ February 08, 2006, 05:42 AM: Message edited by: PennState4Ever ]

blueraider

Feb 7 2006, 08:32 PM

This whole situation is such a joke.

If MLB had any brains, they would have spent the money that the owners used to buy and run the Expos towards constructing a new stadium in Montreal.

Simply idiotic....

Joe in Philly

Feb 7 2006, 08:38 PM

The sad thing is that the team will now continue without an owner. As long as they have no owner, there's no hope of building an organization that can consistently compete. Last year was a fluke. MLB should decide on an owner and sell for as much as they can get, and let the new ownership decide to fight it out with the politicians or just move to another city.

PennState4Ever

Feb 8 2006, 06:44 AM

It turns out the DC Council was against the stadium lease before they were for it, and by the time Washington got out of bed this morning, the deal was done.

Council Forges Deal on Stadium

QUOTE

The D.C. Council voted to reject a baseball stadium lease agreement last night, then reconsidered four hours later and approved the deal after a plea from Mayor Anthony A. Williams and a threat from Major League Baseball President Robert A. DuPuy.

The dramatic about-face came at 12:40 this morning after the council added its own price cap to the lease, limiting the District's spending to $611 million for the project along the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington. With the cap in place, the council voted 9 to 4 for emergency legislation that approved the lease deal.

PCC

Feb 8 2006, 08:16 AM

Adrian Fenty has used this entire stadium funding issue in the most crassly political way imagineable. He has been beneath contempt.

...and both gay members of the Council voted no, both times. They've only been slightly less crass than Fenty.

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