In a development that surprised the heck out of me, the organizers of the effort to move the Montreal Expos to Northern Virginia seemed to have jumped into the lead when it comes to landing the team. Why? Simply the announcement of a stadium financing deal that relies primarily on private developers and taxes on the stadium and related property to pay for the park to be named Diamond Lake:
The authority actively pursued the inclusion of private developers for several months. Their involvement also allowed for the change in the contribution by a team owner of one third of the ballpark by cost from an up-front lump sum to annual rent payments of $10.1 million. Public-sector funds would emanate from taxes on stadium-related commerce and ballplayer salaries and retail space rental fees. "This is a solid, fully funded plan. And what we won't do is tax the general public or other businesses," said Gabe Paul Jr., authority executive director.
The key words here, especially for my friends and neighbors in Northern Virginia, is no new taxes. And that may have tipped me over the edge when it comes to supporting this effort.
Granted, there are still plenty of concerns. Getting to the stadium, as Thom Loverro of the Washington Times points out, is still going to be a bear, especially at rush hour. Though there are plans for a rail line, it won't extend to the area anytime before 2010. Until then, folks who want to go to the game will have to either use buses, or HOV lanes on the Dulles Toll Road (something which will essentially disuade plenty of Maryland residents from ever going to games).
But there's one player in town that doesn't want to see the Expos go to Virginia -- and that's the Washington Post. For quite some time now, the Post has been an avid cheerleader for a ballpark in the District, and worked subtly to undermine the Virginia bid. The latest evidence: while the Washington Times committed a columnist and a reporter to yesterday's announcement, the Post just ran some AP wire copy.
For a newspaper that's covered the Baltimore Orioles for years as if it were a hometown team, an editorial decision like that is inexcusable.
UPDATE: Virginia Governor Mark Warner, relieved he won't have to defend a tax increase for a baseball stadium whenever he decides to run for the Senate, is expressing his support for the plan.
Why on earth would MLB want to go totally AGAINST the successful trend in building and marketing ballparks. The key word is URBAN — not go to the middle of nowhere, turn right and drive twenty more miles.
If you combine DC and Baltimore you have the 5th largest US market. All top 4 markets have managed to create and maintain 2 teams Mets/Yankees, Dodgers/Angels, Giants/A’s.
So where’s the line? Does it end at market #4? I think not.
Without DC there would be no Northern Virginia. So like we say in the railroad business, you better attach yourself to the locomotive – and not the coal car — or else you’ll create another Landover, MD — or is it Raljon?
Wouldn’t Boswell’s columns tend to undermine your theory on the Post? (Or, at least, reassure you that the Post doesn’t mind running a variety of opinions. Of course, they still pay George Will and Charles Krauthammer, so you could actually say they go overboard in soliciting contrary minds.)
[But there's one player in town that doesn't want to see the Expos go to Virginia -- and that's the Washington Post. For quite some time now, the Post has been an avid cheerleader for a ballpark in the District, and worked subtly to undermine the Virginia bid. The latest evidence: while the Washington Times committed a columnist and a reporter to yesterday's announcement, the Post just ran some AP wire copy.
For a newspaper that's covered the Baltimore Orioles for years as if it were a hometown team, an editorial decision like that is inexcusable.]
You may have received that impression from checking the Post’s web site. Late that evening, a staff-written story was made available, as well as a piece by metro columnist Marc Fisher, who attended the rally and noted of about the 200 people present, only two were black. Just what baseball needs as it tries to woo back minorities.
And while the Post may have lately come around to promoting the idea of baseball in Washington, for many years local baseball activists thought it just the opposite, shilling for the Baltimore Orioles (especially while Edward Bennett Williams, also the paper’s legal counsel, owned the team).