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November 25, 2008

Marlins' new home pushed back to '12

It's official: The Florida Marlins' new stadium is now slated to open in 2012, rather than 2011 as was previously planned. Team president David Samson blamed the lawsuit by former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman for the delay, telling MLB.com: "This is because of Braman. It's not because of the economy. It's not because of any issues with the [final] documents. It's not because of any of that." We always assumed it was because of Braman - so what's this about the economy, Dave?

The more interesting thing here may be Samson's announcement of the timetable for beginning construction: Team management hopes to have construction contracts ready for a vote of the city and county commissions in January, with groundbreaking to follow in May. Why the four-month delay? Samson didn't say, but I wouldn't be too surprised to hear that the team could need some time to finalize financing, given the current credit crisis.

In any case, pushing the opening back a year means the Marlins will need to stay at Dolphin Stadium (I think that's what it's called this week) for 2011, a year beyond their current lease expires. As expected, that likely won't be a problem: Samson said he's already begun talks with the Dolphins owners about a lease extension. It also means the Marlins will have an extra year to figure out what their new hats will look like.

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