February 23, 2004
Expos follies
Various wheels continue to spin in place in the never-ending multi-city race to acquire the Montreal Expos:
- Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams says he's working to cut the price tag of a proposed stadium from $436 million to under $400 million - not to save the district money, mind you, but to save money for the team's still-to-be-decided owners. "The mayor and other officials have concluded that the $339 million stadium financing package that they offered last year failed in part because it required too large an initial investment from the group that buys the team," reports the Washington Post - though it's been clear for months that MLB's holdup is the D.C. city council's insistence on not opening stadium funding talks until after the Expos are officially moved. Maybe the Post missed Bob DuPuy's memo.
- Execs of Paul Allen, owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, threw cold water on Portland's simmering hopes to land the Expos, With Seahawks official Lance Lopes saying: "Baseball's economic model is so broken, to put a team in a town this size, it would have to be greatly subsidized." (Of course, they would say that, given that a baseball team in town would compete with the Blazers for corporate sponsorships.) Portland Mayor Vera Katz will reportedly make a decision later this week on whether to make a renewed push for a stadium bill this year.
- Expos players Brian Schneider and Dan Smith visited Monterrey, Mexico last week to check out the stadium and neighborhood, in the unlikely case that MLB chooses to expand into the land of corn smut. Their verdict? "We only had a couple of hours to look around before it got dark." Note to the Expos: Next time you might want to send some players who wake up before noon.
Posted by Neil deMause
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