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If baseball doesn't keep its pledge about the Montreal Expos, William Collins says he'll give up trying to bring the team here. |
William L. Collins III, an old catcher turned telecommunications millionaire, has been stung by plenty of foul tips in his life.
Now he's tired of feeling the sting of paying a million dollars a pitch every year, just to have Major League Baseball stand there with its bat on its shoulder.
Collins, who heads up the Virginia Baseball Club, says he's spent $11 million in 11 years of efforts to bring baseball to Northern Virginia. And that, he said, is enough.
He said he'll give up on his extra-inning effort if baseball reneges on its pledge to choose a new home for the Montreal Expos by the All-Star break in July. MLB made the same promise last year. Baseball now says the Expos will move to a new home for the 2005 season.
But it seems as though Virginia's last pitch for the team may be its best one.
Baseball has been insisting that a detailed, fully publicly funded stadium financing plan be in place before selecting a new home for the Expos.
Jerry Burkot, executive director of Collins' Virginia Baseball Club, said yesterday he's confident the financing plan for a ballpark in Northern Virginia can be made more attractive to baseball without asking the legislature for additional funds.
For years, a state plan has offered to provide two-thirds of the financing for a new ballpark in Virginia, with one-third to be paid by the new owners of the team.
Northern Virginia is competing with D.C.; Portland, Ore.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Monterrey, Mexico; Las Vegas and Norfolk.
"I guarantee you there's no one in the country who will enact a financing plan better than Virginia's," Burkot said.
Brian Hannigan, a spokesman for the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority--the state agency charged with recruiting a big-league franchise and building a ballpark--said the stadium authority has had discussions with several developers to see if ancillary development could complete the remaining portion of the funding for a ballpark.
Also, even a small increase in the state sales tax that might come out of budget negotiations in Richmond would help, because taxes from sales of game tickets, concessions and things such as caps and jerseys at the stadium would go towards the cost of the ballpark.
Hannigan said it's also possible that a ballpark would be built for less than planned. The Engineer Proving Grounds site at Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County would be relatively inexpensive if the stadium authority can buy it from the federal government. But that's considered unlikely, even though the land is slated to be transferred to private ownership.
Gabe Paul, executive director of the stadium authority, said he's confident a final site can be selected and purchased fairly soon.
Sites are under consideration in Arlington, Loudoun County and Fairfax County, but there has been political resistance in Arlington and Fairfax.
Baseball's 29 other ball clubs have collectively owned and operated the Expos since 2002. Despite past delays and missed deadlines, Commissioner Bud Selig has said he's confident the Expos will have a new home in 2005, and baseball officials said they hope to make a decision on relocation by mid-July.
"We're holding them to their word," Collins told The Associated Press. "Our group has endured 11 years and $11 million worth of uncertainty, but we do believe this effort will ultimately be successful."
"That's a long time and he's spent a lot of money," Paul said. "No one I've ever heard of has spent this much time and this much money in a quest for a major league team."
Collins' deadline may be moot, because the public-private financing plan for a new ballpark passed years ago by the state runs out this year, and the legislature has chosen not to extend it.
The Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority will cease to exist at the end of the year.
"We're in a situation where this will be the last year for us and we'll either get it done or we won't," Hannigan said.
A similar "sunset" provision on a state of Arizona financing plan to build a ballpark in Phoenix worked in the '90s, spurring baseball to award that city the franchise that became the Diamondbacks.
"The idea that baseball could afford to turn its back on the eighth-largest media market and the second-most affluent market boggles the mind," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
To reach MICHAEL ZITZ: 540/374-5408 mikez@freelancestar.com
