February 11, 2006
MLB prepares to cut off nose in War on Face
So just in case anybody thought that Major League Baseball was going to take my advice and take the new Washington Nationals stadium deal and run, you can now be officially disabused of that notion. MLB COO Bob DuPuy wrote an icy-cold letter to Mayor Anthony Williams yesterday, griping that the D.C. council's imposition of a public cost cap had "seriously disrupted" the "balance of burdens and benefits agreed to by us in mediation," and indicating that baseball would need to further analyze the new legislation before deciding how to respond. Coming on the heels of baseball commish Bud Selig accusing the council of "demagoguery [that] would have made Huey Long blush," it's not exactly a big thank-you bouquet of roses.
But this could all be posturing, right? Surely once they've finished slapping the council's hands for being tardy and disrespectful, they'll sigh deeply and agree to accept that $611 million check, right? Not according to today's Washington Post:
Baseball sources said a contingent of MLB officials - led by Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the relocation committee - was leaning toward taking the city to binding arbitration. Under that scenario, baseball officials would seek to force the city to abide by the original stadium agreement, under which the District is responsible for all cost overruns.
They could try that, certainly, but it seems doubtful in the extreme that any arbitrator would argue that a letter of agreement signed by the mayor trumps a piece of legislation passed by the council. And going to arbitration would only delay the sale of bonds for months more, pushing back the start of construction and making it increasingly unlikely that the stadium wouldn't open until 2009, if not later. But then, baseball owners are all about giving up a bird in the hand for one in the bush.
This development makes me think they want to move the team to Northern Virginia. DC will torpedo the whole deal before accepting binding arbitration. You can't force a democratically elected council to give you $600 million dollars for a private business. City council elections aren't a suicide pact.
If MLB keeps messing with the DC Council somebody in Congress might just notice that the antitrust exemption is forcing hundreds of millions of dollars in extra costs on captive cities. If MLB didn't control the franchise locations then good locations could negotiate the lowest cost to taxpayers among a handful of teams and marginal cities who truly wanted to attract a team would pay free market rates to attract a team. market would determine the best place for the former EXPOS, not Bud Selig and Jerry Reinsdorf.
It can't be good for MLB to have the $600 million dollars in DC and a similar figure for the public contribution to the new Yankee Stadium. That's a billion dollars of subsidies to private stadiums in an economy with flat wages and shrinking health coverage. The stink might get so bad the people notice and end public welfare for the likes of Selig and Reinsdorf.
Posted by: joejoejoe on February 11, 2006 05:55 PM
More fun for the Nationals:
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/060213/0109621.html
The U.S. Patent and Trade Office has issued a trademark for "Washington Nationals" to Bygone Sports which plans to pursue and infringement claim against MLB Properties.
Posted by: Andy Mead on February 13, 2006 01:01 PM
MLB can take the Washington Nationals back to Canada. This time in Vancouver, BC.
Posted by: Daniel on February 13, 2006 05:46 PM
