Florida Marlins close to new stadium deal and name change

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http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080125&content_id=2355194&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

01/25/2008 12:30 PM ET
Marlins inch closer on stadium talks
Team has 'never been closer' to realizing ballpark dream
By Joe Frisaro / MLB.com

MIAMI -- Silence shouldn't be interpreted as talks being stagnant in the Marlins' stadium push.
Negotiations between all parties are taking place pretty much on a daily basis, and indications remain strong that a deal is close to being completed.

The aim is to have a signed stadium agreement completed either by the end of the month in a special session or perhaps during a Feb. 5 meeting of the Miami-Dade County commissioners.

Striving for their own ballpark for more than a decade, the Marlins have never been this close to finalizing a deal. The negotiations are between the team, city of Miami and Miami-Dade County officials.

All sides are working toward a $525 million retractable-roof ballpark that would be located at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

If finalized, the 37,000-seat park would be projected to open for the 2011 season.

The Marlins will remain at Dolphin Stadium, their home since their inaugural 1993 season, until their lease expires after the 2010 season.

"From what I've been told, we are so close it's incredible. It's very minor differences," Miami-Dade County commission chairman Bruno Barreiro recently told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "Our attorneys have said we've never been closer."

In years past, talks stalled when the stadium efforts sought $60 million in sales tax rebate money from the state of Florida. But unlike the past, the projected park will not include any state money.

One reason a final vote was delayed this month was because of the Congressional hearings on the Mitchell Report into improper drug use in baseball. Those hearings took place in Washington.

Major League Baseball has taken an active role in the Marlins' stadium efforts.

As part of the agreement for their own stadium, the Marlins have agreed to change from the Florida Marlins to the Miami Marlins prior to the 2011 season.

The Marlins received stadium encouragement in December during a county commission meeting.

On the same day, by an 11-2 vote, the commission approved allocating a $50 million general obligation bond toward the project. Once that piece of financing was included, the commissioners also voted 9-4 in favor of a global agreement for a number of ambitious projects in Miami.

The wide-ranging $3 billion initiative includes additional funding for a Marlins park, along with the construction of a tunnel for the Port of Miami, a downtown streetcar, museums and a soccer stadium.

The Marlins are chipping in $155 million towards the park. The team also will be on the hook for all cost overruns.

After that meeting in December, the sides were hopeful to be days apart from completing the deal. But as those talks continued, finer details had to be worked out, and the stadium issue was then deferred to a Jan. 10 commission meeting.

However, that date also was pushed back, and unless the matter is addressed in a special session, the Feb. 5 meeting could be when the stadium is back on the commission meeting agenda.

Time is of the essence to get the matter resolved.

Projections are it will take three years to build a retractable-roof facility. So breaking ground in the upcoming months is vital to being able to open in 2011.

The Orange Bowl site became the primary location for a Marlins stadium shortly after the University of Miami football team declared it would be moving to Dolphin Stadium this year.

The Miami Hurricanes had played at the Orange Bowl for more than 60 years.

The Marlins this year will share Dolphin Stadium with the NFL's Miami Dolphins and the Hurricanes.

While support has been high for a new Marlins stadium, one detractor on Wednesday filed legal action against the city-county $3 billion mega-plan.

Local auto dealer Norman Braman, formerly the owner of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles, is asking a Miami-Dade circuit judge to dismiss key pieces of the mega-project, including the funding parts that would go towards the Marlins' stadium.

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

This would be good for baseball if it actually happens.