Baseball officials praise D.C. plan

Major League Baseball yesterday gave its strongest support yet to the District’s efforts to acquire a team, praising the city’s revised plan for a ballpark and granting assurances that the opposition of the Baltimore Orioles would not prevent a franchise from being placed in Washington.

Mayor Anthony A. Williams and other city officials have long feared that any bid to put a team in the District would be thwarted by Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who has strongly opposed the placement of a club in Washington.

But hopes were high among city officials that the District soon will get a team after a 65-minute meeting with Major League Baseball’s relocation committee yesterday at One Judiciary Square.

Major League Baseball (MLB) expects to select a new home for the Montreal Expos by midsummer.

“I told them point-blank that we don’t want to see all this shut down because of Angelos or for us to be used as a stalking horse for somebody else,” said Jack Evans, Ward 2 Democrat and chairman of the D.C. Council finance committee. “The city right now is absolutely electrified over the prospect of baseball, and it would be a travesty to see that toyed with.

“Fortunately, they said Angelos should not be a factor and assured us they were not using us. It was a very good meeting.”

John McHale, the chief administrative officer of MLB and a key figure on the relocation panel, shared Mr. Evans’ view.

“We heard an excellent presentation,” said Mr. McHale, part of a seven-person MLB contingent led by Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. “If we weren’t serious about Washington, we wouldn’t be here.”

City officials in recent months have significantly revised their proposal to build a ballpark and yesterday presented four potential sites: a property at RFK Stadium, New York Avenue NE, M Street SE and the current home of Benjamin Banneker Park in Southwest.

The projected costs of a ballpark, recently lowered for the second time in several months, range from $278 million to $383 million. A new stadium would be funded primarily by revenue bonds serviced by ballpark-related sales taxes and either a gross-receipts or personal-property tax on large D.C. businesses.

Between $18 million and $24 million would be needed each year to service the construction debt, depending on which location was selected.

Each site except the RFK Stadium property would require financial contributions from the buyer of the team in the form of annual lease payments.

MLB wants a new stadium to be built and funded entirely with public dollars, thinking that it then could sell the Expos for a higher price because a buyer would have more money available to purchase the club.

Mr. McHale yesterday said the District has “never not met our criteria” for a new stadium — a view many officials in Washington would dispute, considering that MLB’s ownership of the Expos is in its third year.

MLB last year also rejected a proposal by the District to build a $438 million stadium funded 70 percent with public money.

However, Mr. McHale said he liked what he heard from the District yesterday.

“They’ve made some compelling changes, and their plans are moving along nicely,” he said.

The relocation committee is scheduled to present its finding to the full MLB ownership May 19 and 20 in New York.

Despite the praise and building optimism, many hurdles remain.

The District’s cost estimates for a new stadium are very low compared with recent ballpark projects across the country, and all cost overruns are being pegged as the responsibility of the buyer of the team.

D.C. officials, particularly Mr. Williams and Mr. Evans, both Democrats, also are not backing down from their demand for a commitment from MLB to put a team in Washington before they pass any financing legislation.

And until Mr. Angelos withdraws his opposition, Mr. Evans and others will not fully believe that threat is gone.

“If baseball makes a commitment to come to Washington, D.C., we’re prepared to move quickly and move decisively,” Mr. Williams said.

A bid for the Expos from Northern Virginia also was discussed in yesterday’s session.

Mr. Evans, for months frustrated by MLB’s exploration of several cities much smaller than Washington as a home for the Expos, told the committee he thought community opposition would not allow a stadium to be built in Virginia any closer to Washington than Dulles International Airport.

Plans for a ballpark in Pentagon City collapsed last year in the face of government, activist and landowner opposition. The Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority is searching for new candidate sites.

“The committee didn’t entirely share my view,” Mr. Evans said. “They seem to think something might still happen there closer in, but it’s not.”

The relocation committee recently met with Virginia baseball boosters and intend to do so again in the next few weeks.