This is an archived version of a Field of Schemes article. Comments on this page are closed. To find the current version of the article with updated comments, click here.
March 23, 2009
Marlins stadium vote #2: The webcast
The Miami-Dade County Commission meeting on the Florida Marlins ballpark proposal is underway; you can watch live here, though the feed is pretty jerky on my computer. They're still in public comments at the moment (1:48 pm), so this could go on awhile.
I'll be out for a chunk of the afternoon, so will post results when I return, if it's been decided. In the meantime, please play nice in the comments field...
UPDATE: The commission finally voted 9-4 late in the evening to approve the Florida Miami Marlins stadium deal. More on this when it's not 1 a.m.
Feed is bad here too
Posted by Jorge Costales on March 23, 2009 02:42 PM
For those who have trouble following the proceedings (that would be the vast majority). Here's another link that you may try:
http://cbs4.com/?can_view=334232049
Click the link next to "Live Webcast"
Posted by Transic on March 23, 2009 03:23 PM
Chairman Sanchez is back. Joe has been brought before the County Commissioners to speak, just in case they missed his opinion over at City Hall.
So if you're keeping score at home - the last three speakers were DePuy, Sanchez, and Samson. I guess the "heart" of the order for the Marlins isn't really Hanley Ramirez and Jeremy Hermida after all.
Posted by Thomas on March 23, 2009 04:24 PM
Feed much better, thanks
Interesting, one of the Spanish speakers against the stadium was an ally of Commissioner Joe Martinez. If he's a no, then one more no would defeat the proposal
Neil - any progress on 'minimum standards'?
Burgess by far has been the most effective spokesman for the project when he spoke at the City of Miami commission meeting.
Posted by Jorge Costales on March 23, 2009 04:33 PM
Just got one of the feeds working again finally, so I'm back watching. Do we know who the swing votes are to be the potential fifth "no"?
Posted by Neil on March 23, 2009 08:26 PM
Based on the comments, Rolle is the only possibility, but I doubt he's a no vote. However, he would only be the 4th no - they need 5 to defeat.
Martinez indicated that he would vote yes on the votes which require a super-majority and no on others to record his issues with the financing.
The Ballpark will be approved.
Posted by Jorge Costales on March 23, 2009 08:38 PM
I'll stop trying to get the feeds working again, then. (The Miami-Dade link is still laggy, and CBS doesn't ever finish loading in the first place.)
So did Martinez get any concessions for his vote, or did he just decide he really likes Jorge Cantu?
Posted by Neil on March 23, 2009 08:46 PM
The county feed has improved, the CBS one is gone.
Unless I missed it, Martinez did not get any additional concessions today. But most of the Commissioners emphasized that a lot of the changes disclosed at the City vote on Friday, were actually based on County Commissioners concerns etc.
Martinez just noted that he did not want his concerns to completely derail the vote and that he was able to fully explore improvements to the deal before today.
Posted by Jorge Costales on March 23, 2009 08:55 PM
If so, that was an awfully long walk just to get a bigger share of a team sale that probably isn't going to happen in the nine-year time frame. But everybody got their pictures in the paper - that's what's important.
Posted by Neil on March 23, 2009 09:07 PM
I honestly have a tremendous doubt about how much the interest the fans in South Florida have in the Marlins, but the point is that they are staying put, and movement or contraction are off the table. The only people happier than Marlins ownership, is MLB, because one of the problem child franchises has been dealt with once and for all. The only franchise that is an immediate issue is of course, the A's, and by getting the Marlins situation taken care of, it will allow MLB to focus in on the A's, and trying to get them to San Jose. If they succeed, they will have overcame the odds, and can start to overcome years of neglect, and negative publicity.
Posted by Januz on March 24, 2009 01:02 AM
One wonders what is going on with the fans of what was once the Montreal Expos who had hoped that Loria would experience an epic fail on his quest to get away with the stunt he pulled to get out of Dodge...I mean Quebec, and into a new stadium down in Miami.
For those people, it has to hurt worse than even losing the Expos.
Posted by Transic on March 24, 2009 02:36 AM
Worse than watching him win the 2003 World Series, even?
Posted by Neil on March 24, 2009 10:36 AM
Well, that would make him the Art Modell of baseball, sort of.
Posted by Transic on March 24, 2009 07:26 PM