November 19, 2004
The news watch never stops
Lots of news today, but it's my birthday, so I'm exercising my prerogative to go to bullet points:
- Baseball owners were set to vote yesterday on approving the Montreal Expos' relocation to Washington, D.C., but instead put it off until early December. According to the Washington Post, there are still issues to be worked out around the payoff to Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos; it can't hurt, though, that the delay will help keep the screws on the D.C. council when it holds its stadium vote, now scheduled for November 30.
- Dog-bites-man department: Downtown property owners in Kansas City are set to throw their support behind a plan for the city building a downtown stadium for the Royals, according to the man who never met a stadium he didn't like, the K.C. Star's Kevin Collison. This one's mostly worth it for the priceless quote from city manager Wayne Cauthen, who enthused to Collison: "We here in Kansas City are getting ready to experience a renaissance, and I think things tend to mushroom. When people see this and that can-do attitude that we have in the city, people will say, 'Gosh, that's a no-brainer.'" Cue the 76 trombones!
- The public agencies helping to fund the new St. Louis Cardinals stadium have filed suit against St. Louis County and the leaders of the Coalition Against Public Funding for Stadiums over this month's successful referendum requiring voter approval of any county stadium expenses. The referendum's backers say this would prevent the county from making payments on $45 million in bonds already sold for the project; the plaintiffs are asking the court to either declare the referendum unconstitutional, or declare that it only applies to future sports projects, not existing ones.
- With the city of Anaheim refusing to let the Angels rename themselves "Los Angeles" - former owners Disney agreed to rename the then-California Angels after their home city in exchange for $30 million in stadium renovation funds - owner Arte Moreno has a new compromise proposal: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Anaheim mayor Curt Pringle wasn't having any of it, saying this "just sounds like a tricky way to dance around your obligation to the contract."
- I'm back in Baseball Prospectus this week (subscribers-only for this one), with a look at the latest shenanigans in the D.C. stadium saga.
And with that, I'm off to be old. See everyone back here Monday.
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