August 22, 2006

Miami stadium: Reality or stalking horse?

Surprise, surprise: After the Florida Marlins announced plans to meet with MLB officials about a new stadium in Hialeah comes word from the Miami Herald that:

Reigniting hopes for baseball in downtown Miami, Major League Baseball is targeting a long-ignored patch of land south of the Miami Arena for a new Florida Marlins stadium.

There are reasons to be suspicious of this report, though. First off, the Herald notes that "it remains to be seen how construction of a stadium would be funded," which is sort of a key omission, given that the last Miami stadium proposal died in the face of a $100 million funding gap. Also, the Herald's sources for the story are unnamed "sources familiar with the proposal" - which means it's likely they're either MLB officials looking to scare Hialeah into thinking it has competition, or Miami officials looking to keep their stadium bid alive in the papers, or both.

As for next week's Marlins-MLB meetings, Miami-Dade county commissioner Jose Diaz said hopefully on Monday, "We have a funding gap, and we want to see how Major League Baseball can help us on that." As Maury Brown notes at Baseball Prospectus:

My prediction for the meeting in New York?

Miami-Dade and Hialeah reps: "What can MLB do to help? Would you be willing to pitch in?"

MLB: "You're doing fine. We have faith in your efforts. Keep trying. We'll get back to you."