January 28, 2003
Expos bidding skirmish begins
MLB has begun meeting with local officials who want to lure the league-owned Montreal Expos to their cities, but if Bud Selig was hoping to provoke a bidding war of stadium subsidy offers, so far the response seems underwhelming. A delegation from Northern Virginia is proposing a stadium plan that would be paid for one-third by the team, one-third by ticket taxes and stadium-related sales and income taxes. with a remaining $100-150 million that "has not been accounted for," according to an AP report. Portland, Oregon, meanwhile, has pinned its hopes on a special baseball payroll tax, which was supposed to generate $150 million in stadium financing; the other half of the construction costs would come from, well, no one seems sure. Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams has proposed $300 million in city aid to the Expos, without saying where the money would come from. Meanwhile, other projected suitors seem to have lost interest, according to USA Today: New Jersey and San Antonio say they've had no contact with MLB about the Expos, while Charlotte City Councilor Lynn Wheeler says, "We have no funds. We are tapped out." (Thanks to Ballparkwatch.com for the links.)
