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In the jockeying among groups vying for the Montreal Expos, Northern Virginia may have nosed ahead in the race for the team by crafting a creative plan.
Developers would help build a $400 million waterfront ballpark on a huge, lakeside shopping and resort/recreation area near Loudoun County's border with Fairfax County.
The partnership with the Virginia Baseball Club would reduce stadium costs by covering the cost of infrastructure to support the ballpark. The Loudoun site, near Dulles Airport, would include a Metro stop that could ease traffic problems.
Baseball will likely find the Loudoun plan appealing because, instead of team ownership having to ante up $133 million in ballpark construction costs upfront, that expense would be spread over 30 years of lease payments. The state would cover the remaining costs through tax revenues generated by the ballpark.
That would give the Virginia Baseball Club more money to pay Major League Baseball upfront for the franchise, which could offset the huge losses baseball has accrued by operating the team for three years in Montreal.
And it might allow baseball to quiet the protests of Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos by giving him a multimillion-dollar lump payment to offset any dip in attendance caused by putting a team 55 miles from Camden Yards.
Jerry Burkot of the Virginia Baseball Club said the lease payment option is an important change. "But we're not done yet," he said, stressing that there are details still to be worked out, even though county leaders have reacted positively so far.
Brian Hannigan of the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority emphasized that sites in Arlington and Fairfax remain under consideration. He said plans for enhancing each site through similar private-public partnerships will be released soon. But political hurdles have made Arlington and Fairfax apparent long shots.
Washington Mayor Anthony Williams has pitched a 41,000-seat downtown ballpark to be financed partially by new taxes on businesses in the city. But there is strong opposition to his idea on the D.C. City Council. And if the council approved it, it would then have to be OK'd by Congress.
D.C. wants baseball to award the city the team before approving a financing package. That, insiders say, is very unlikely to happen.
The Virginia legislature voted a decade ago to back a plan in which the state would pay for two-thirds of the construction costs for a baseball stadium.
The Norfolk area made a lot of noise last week about a drive to get businesses and fans to make deposits on Expos season tickets in order to impress baseball.
Hannigan said the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority will happily work with Norfolk if it's selected, but he's convinced baseball's decision will be between Washington and Northern Virginia. "It's by far the biggest market," Hannigan said.
To reach MICHAEL ZITZ: 540/374-5408 mikez@freelancestar.com