February 07, 2006
MLB tells Marlins to stay outta Vegas?
The Miami Herald's Barry Jackson is reporting that MLB has denied permission for executives of the Florida Marlins to meet with Las Vegas officials about relocating there. This is, to say the least, odd, since even if they didn't intend on letting the Fish move there, just visiting could help spark the so-far-nonexistent bidding war to be the team's new home - and, after all, MLB had no qualms about dropping in on Vegas when it was shopping the Montreal Expos around. So what could it be? A sop to anti-gambling legislators? An indication that Vegas has been promised to some other team (A's? Twins?) as its private extortion grounds? Place your conspiracy-theory bets, and I'll watch for further news.
What about Washington? If nothing happens on the lease front soon, aren't we due for a faux regretful threat about picking up and moving on again?
Posted by Jeff Hildebrand on February 7, 2006 09:12 PM
The Nationals will probably threaten to go Northern Virginia again, and I'm sure they'll be mentioned for contraction. But really, where are they gonna go? If Vegas or Portland had been a serious option in 2004, they would have moved there then. (The D.C. council just voted down the lease again, by the way. I'll have more on this tomorrow.)
Posted by Neil on February 7, 2006 09:51 PM