December 02, 2004
Angelos still not on board for D.C. deal
Just when you thought it was safe to order those Washington Nationals miniplans: Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos still hasn't agreed with MLB on the insanely lucrative buyout he'd get for signing off on the Expos' D.C. move, and now there's talk of a potential lawsuit if he isn't paid off, and fast. Admittedly, not talk by Angelos himself, but by the governor of Maryland, who told WBAL radio: "Peter was led to believe by baseball officials that negotiations would be fruitful and complete by this time. This could end up in court in the relatively short term." Angelos, you will recall, doesn't actually have territorial rights to D.C.; you will further recall that he's also pretty much the biggest-shot lawyer around, so if he wants to drag things out - or threaten to in order to get his boodle - you can be damn sure he can do it.
Back on the stadium-funding front, meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams "has pledged to reopen talks with Major League Baseball officials about portions of a stadium-financing agreement, but that meeting likely would come after the D.C. Council takes its final vote on the plan Dec. 14." Yeah, I can just see how that meeting's going to go:
WILLIAMS: Bud, a lot of my councilmembers aren't happy with paying all the stadium costs while you keep all the profits. Couldn't you bend a bit on, say, paying for cost overruns? Or charging us up the wazoo if we're a few days late finishing the stadium?SELIG: No.WILLIAMS: Please?SELIG: No.WILLIAMS: Pretty please?SELIG: No.WILLIAMS: Well, in that case you leave me no choice. When the stadium bill comes up for approval in the council, I'm going to... wait a minute. D'oh!SELIG: Bwahahaha!LATE NOTE: Selig is now saying that he's not gonna renegotiate nuthin nohow: "We have made a deal. Certainly, you have every right to expect that we'll live up to our end of the deal. So, you know, a deal's been made, and I'm satisfied that the deal that both sides agreed to will take place." He added that an MLB owner vote to approve the Expos' move to D.C. could come tomorrow; Selig desperately wanted it to be unanimous, but Angelos is likely to put the kibosh on that.
COMMENTSThe conversation I had between Cropp and Selig went something like this: ]"Hello, Commissioner Selig, this is Council Chair Linda Cropp. Do you have time to talk about concessions that remove some of the burden on the District?" "Yes, Linda I can 'dialogue'". "Does that mean that you're open to negotiation?" "No, that means I can listen and verbally nod my head, but I never said I'd 'negotiate'".
Posted by: Maury at December 3, 2004 01:51 PMI think Mayor Williams needs to take a lesson in negotiation strategy 101. One doesn't agree to a contract in principle, lobby an elected body to support said contract, and then aim to better the deal for the city afterwards. He has no bargaining power now! What a genius. I am seriously questioning this man's intellectual capacity and ability, especially after he stated that he opposed naming the team 'The Senators' because D.C. is not represented by any senators. I suppose the fact that D.C. is the seat of national government and the area where 100 senators work and legislate is lost on him.
Posted by: Guy B. Jones at December 5, 2004 12:37 PMPOST A COMMENT
