March 03, 2005

Not so loud, they'll all want one

The good news for the owners of the Florida Marlins: They've secured the approval of the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County for their $420 million stadium plan, a little over half of which would be paid for with public money. The not-as-good news: This isn't really anything new, as the city and county already approved the deal once last May. The worse news: State senate president Tom Lee said the team's demands for $60 million in state money over 30 years would likely be "a tough sell in the legislature," noting that the Marlins' subsidy proposal set off a deluge of copycat requests from other local sports entities: "We've gotten a call from [Tampa Bay Devil Rays owner] Vince Naimoli, we've gotten a call from NASCAR, from the [Orlando] Magic - the line's getting long."

Asked by the Tampa Tribune what Naimoli wanted out of the state, given that his lease on Tropicana Field runs through the year 2027, Lee responded cryptically: "There might be a point in the future where they too had an issue."