Nothing's changed here on the progress bars since February. The development app hasn't been submitted yet, and recent presentations have been good on the conceptual level but have been short on details. The unique funding method is dependent on rezoning industrial land to commercial/residential, so you'll see the top two bars move together or not at all.
Last week, Marlins President David Samson and Bud Selig both let loose the veiled threat of relocation, saying that there hasn't been much progress on either the site-finding or financing fronts. Magically, today the University of Miami announced that its football team is relocating to Dolphin Stadium starting in the 2008 season. The "U" will vacate the 70-year-old Orange Bowl for at least $1.5 million more in annual revenue and a better parking situation, though they will lose the tradition and intimacy that came with the "OB." According to this link the City of Miami-owned 31-acre site is worth $19-22 million for both the land and stadium. The team prefers the 9-acre Government Center site downtown, but acquisition is considered far more difficult. Now that the 'Canes are locked into a 25-year deal at Joe Robbie/Blockbuster/Pro Player/Dolphin(s) Stadium, there's extra pressure on both the city and the Marlins to complete the deal. The Marlins' existing lease at DS expires after the 2010 season, and it's unlikely that the two resident football teams will tolerate a baseball infield beyond that. For the Marlins, there are still problems bridging the remaining $30 million that needs to be financed. Additional parking in the form of garages will probably need to be built to placate nearby residents' concerns.
Yesterday an arbitration panel ruled in a split decision that the downtown ballpark site, which was taken via eminent domain, is worth $24.8 million, or over $10 million more than the deposit plunked down by Hennepin County to take the land. The original owners of the site had pegged the land to be worth $65 million. The decision is non-binding and both sides can appeal after a 48-hour cooling off period. Complicating matters is the dissenting member of the three-person panel, who filed a separate report that appraised the land to be worth $33.8 million. While the land is already being cleared for construction, the groundbreaking ceremony hasn't actually happened yet. Originally targeted for August 2, the ceremony was postponed in the wake of the I-35W bridge collapse. If one starts the clock on September 1, the Twins will have 32 months to get everything ready for Opening Day 2010 - a huge improvement over the stadium's prospects last February.
The Nat's ballpark appears to be progressing nicely, even as it zooms way past budget and DC pols are looking under every couch cushion to fund it. There remain issues involving parking and transportation planning, but as far as the ballpark goes, it's on track.
I can't forget to mention the New York stadia. There are six new venues either in planning or construction stages in the New York metropolitan area. The combined value of the two baseball stadia, one football stadium, one soccer stadium, and two new arenas? Nearly $5 billion. The venues:
- Prudential Center (2007) - NJ Devils, $400 million
- New Yankee Stadium (2009) - $1.3 billion (including park relocation and transit costs)
- Citi Field (2009) - $610 million
- Giants/Jets Stadium (2010?) - $1.3 billion
- Barclays Center (2009?) - Brooklyn Nets, $1 billion (exclusive of ancillary development)
- Red Bull Park (2008) - Red Bull New York, $100 million
8 comments:
The Red Bull Park's opening has been pushed back to 2009 because there have been delays in the environmental cleanup of that area.
The Nets' new arena in Brooklyn may still happen. However, the Atlantic Yards project (of which the arena is a part of) is mired in lawsuits from local residents currenlty living in the vicinity where the state/Ratner to condemn via eminent domain. This could go either way.
Giants/Jets are about to begin construction in September. Perhaps we'll see what the stadium will finally look like. Hopefully, it would be worth the $1.3 billion they're putting in.
Yankees and Mets stadia are well under construction, as you already know.
It will be interesting to see whether MLB would accept the site of the Orange Bowl as the solution or look to Portland, instead.
Portland sets up the unique possibility of 6 5 team divisions. I ahve read that is a scheduling nightmare, I am not sure why other than interleague play rivalry week crap and what not. I wonder if anyone cares about rivalry week outside of the Bay Area, New York, LA, Chicago and maybe the DC/Baltimore tilt.
I imagine if the Marlins moved to Portland they would be moved to the NL West, the Rockies could be moved to the AL West and the Pirates to the NL East.
Of course, tha is all a pipe dream or something.
You sort of touched on it Jeffrey. No one on the inside likes the prospect of constant interleague play throughout the year. Having 15 teams in each league would guarantee interleague play all season long. I'd rather see Portland get an expansion team and have a tidy, 4-team AL West in an 8-division MLB.
So lets say they add two new teams. Where does the 2nd team go? San Antonio? Oaklahoma City? Nashville? Mexico? Try once again to go into Canada, maybe Vancouver? I doubt Montreal would welcome a team back after what MLB did to the Expos. Hawaii would be too much of a stretch, I'd imagine.
ML,
I thought Oakland Athletics opening 2011 not 2010.
If there's any realignment, it will probably involve moving Texas out of the AL West. The Rangers don't like being in a division where they are two time zones away from all the other teams in their division--it hurts their TV ratings to have so many games starting at 9pm.
If the Marlins move to Portland, I think the Marlins would go to the AL West, the Rangers to the NL Central, and the Pirates to the NL East. That puts all those three teams in divisions that match the time zones of their respective cities.
The only reason i would argue against a Portland team playing in the AL West is that would put two teams in the same division drawing from the some portion of the same fan base (The Area between Seattle and Portland).
It would also create a nice inter league rivalry to have an NL team closer to Seattle, but that would leave San Diego without a rival, ha!
Of course San Diego and LA are closer to one another than Seattle and Portland, but there are a ton more people in Southern California than there is in Central Washington.
Really there is no perfect solution.
Giants/Jets have officially started construction of their stadium today, releasing new renderings of the stadium at the same time. So far, reaction has been mixed. Some thought it was a great design while others were disappointed that it didn't meet their criteria for a $1.7 billion price tag.
If you're interested, go to http://www.nynjfootball.com/
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