May 06, 2007
Marlins: Wait till next year (again)
Stop me if you've heard this before: The Florida state legislature ended its session on Friday without acting on a Marlins stadium funding bill, effectively killing it for 2007. The new twist this year was that it was the state senate that failed to act on a bill - reportedly in part because two senate sponsors couldn't agree whose name would go on it - after the state house approved a $30 million sales-tax subsidy; last year, it was the other way around.
In any case, we seem all but assured of another Marlins stadium push in 2008. A team statement released yesterday said that while the Fish were "disappointed" by the legislature's inaction, "starting immediately, we will all begin the process of moving forward to attempt to secure the future of baseball in South Florida." (No mention of San Antonio this time.) Miami area officials, meanwhile, said they'd push ahead with stadium plans as well: Miami-Dade county commissioner Jose "Pepe" Diaz even hinted to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel they might finally stop asking the state legislature to cover the persistent $30 million funding gap that's existed ever since the $490 million stadium was a $325 million stadium: "I don't have the stomach to deal with the state anymore on this issue."
That'd fly in the face of Marlins president David Samson's declaration earlier this year that "without the state's financial help there's no stadium deal as we see it right now." Of course, David Samson has said a lot of things without necessarily meaning them.
Well I think that's why Samson said "right now"! It's about time the team and local govt figure out if they want to have a stadium or not. It'll just keep getting more expensive.
Posted by: Anonymous on May 6, 2007 06:33 PM
It does continue to baffle me why the Marlins keep holding out for $30 million, which in the grand scheme of things is a piddly amount of money. If they'd taken the city/county deal the first time it was offered - which I think was around the year 1837 - and just pitched in the missing $30m themselves, Loria and Samson not only would have gotten a stadium built for less, they also would have gotten out from their crappy Huizenga lease years earlier.
Posted by: Neil on May 6, 2007 06:59 PM
This is going to go on for another 20 years or more.
Posted by: Daniel F. on May 7, 2007 05:20 PM
It probably won't happen, but part of me wishes Huizenga would hold firm to his Marlins eviction date. If so, MLB would face a conundrum, especially if Florida also holds firm to its promise to sue MLB if one of its teams leaves. Might the Marlins end up in Orlando?
Posted by: Vincent on May 9, 2007 02:15 PM
Why wouldn't Huizenga hold firm on his date? His entire rebuild of Dolphin Stadium is dependent on getting the Marlins out of there. He's not no vested interest in keeping them around.
Posted by: Dan on May 15, 2007 03:15 PM
