Long National nightmare nearly over?

Looks like it could be all over but the shouting. Last night at 11:10 pm, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and council chair Linda Cropp announced that they’d reached a compromise on a $581 million stadium deal, paving the way for the Montreal Expos to become the Washington Nationals. The new provisions, which were reportedly signed off on by MLB:

• Cropp’s demand that 50% of the stadium construction costs ($140 million) be “privately financed” is now a suggestion, not a requirement – the stadium bill will stand regardless of whether private financing is found. This was the main holdup for MLB, which wanted a guarantee it would get its stadium one way or another, and didn’t especially care how it was paid for. (Well, didn’t care so long as the name on the invoice wasn’t “Bud Selig and Friends.”) The private-financing aspect was already pretty darned nebulous; making it so that D.C. will build the stadium regardless makes it essentially meaningless.

• In exchange, MLB agreed to lift its demand for a $19 million late fee if the new stadium isn’t ready for Opening Day 2008. Instead, the city would let the Nationals play at the existing RFK Stadium rent-free for that year, a cost of about $5 million to the city. The Washington Times also reports that “MLB and the city now will share equally all insurance premiums to protect against cost overruns,” though it’s not clear how much cost-overrun insurance would run.

In short, everybody blinked, resulting in a deal that dissident councilmember Adrian Fenty accurately summed up as “materially the exact same thing the mayor sent over. It’s a publicly financed stadium with less risk, but still a publicly financed stadium.” Unless something unexpected happens at the city council today – and who could imagine anything like that happening? – the Washington Nationals will soon become a reality, just as 33% of Field of Schemes readers accurately predicted. Disappointed baseball boosters in Portland, Norfolk, Las Vegas and on that floating platform off the coast of Scotland, you’ll have to wait for another day – just remember to have a half-billion dollars or so in your bank account for if and when baseball comes knocking.