A top Major League Baseball official yesterday did not rule out RFK Stadium as the site for a new ballpark for the Washington Nationals, buoying hopes for D.C. Council members who have pushed for that location as a means to reduce costs.
Jerry Reinsdorf, baseball’s top negotiator for a stadium lease with the city, told the council that the league never rejected the idea of a ballpark near RFK during talks to bring the Nationals to the District last year. He said Major League Baseball (MLB) would reconsider the site if the city demanded it, council members said.
“We were told during our discussions that for Major League Baseball to come here, it had to go to the [South Capitol] site,” said David A. Catania, at-large independent. “When I asked [Mr. Reinsdorf] what his objections were to RFK, he looked at the mayor and said, ’We had no objections to RFK.’ I was astonished. I think this thing can still happen. I hope it does, and I hope it happens at RFK.”
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Mayor Anthony A. Williams, however, said the city still is pushing for a ballpark along South Capitol Street, because it ties in with plans to redevelop the entire Anacostia Waterfront.
“I think we’re going to get a stadium that works not only for the entertainment value and the morale of the city, but it’s very important to get a stadium that works economically,” Mr. Williams said.
Mr. Reinsdorf, who told the council in a closed meeting that the planned South Capitol site still is preferred by MLB, was in the city to finalize the lease agreement. However, he met with council members for about an hour to hear their concerns.
“I think Jerry Reinsdorf has a good, clear understanding of how the council feels,” said Vincent B. Orange Sr., a Ward 5 Democrat who supports the South Capitol site. “Members are sort of tilted toward RFK.”
Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp in mid-November ordered a new estimate for the cost of building near RFK in case plans for the South Capitol site fall through. Mrs. Cropp is awaiting the new estimate. She said, however, that discussion of RFK was irrelevant until the current lease agreement is finalized.
Many council members said they prefer the RFK site because it could be cheaper. Costs for the South Capitol project rose dramatically this year, forcing city officials to cut costs in order to stay within a $535 million budget.
City officials negotiating the stadium lease said they plan to finish it today and were still meeting late last night. In an e-mail from the meeting, one official said the parties were making progress but did not comment further.
The lease is required in order to obtain investment-grade ratings on the bonds used to finance the ballpark, and the city needs to have money from the sale of the bonds by Dec. 31. A council vote on the lease is planned for Dec. 20.
At least five council members have said they will vote against it unless MLB agrees to provide more money to help with construction.
“There’s no way you can leave this meeting without realizing that the council as a whole has some very serious reservations about the negotiated deal,” said Adrian M. Fenty, a Ward 4 Democrat who supports the RFK site. “There was a lot of talk about RFK.”
The city has asked MLB to provide a $24 million letter of credit and a $20 million payment toward construction costs, but council members said Mr. Reinsdorf offered no indication that MLB would agree. The letter of credit is needed to secure the financing, city officials said.
Mr. Reinsdorf declined to comment on the session with the council, except to say, “I think the meeting proceeded exactly as I thought it would proceed. My position is that it was a very positive meeting.”
Last year, cost estimates for a stadium at RFK were about $200 million less than those for a South Capitol Street stadium. This week, however, D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission officials said the costs would be about same, in part because a decision to build at RFK would delay the ballpark’s opening by one year. Officials hope to open a new ballpark by March 2008.
To move the stadium to RFK, MLB’s executive committee and Commissioner Bud Selig would have to agree. The city and MLB also would have to scrap the ballpark agreement passed last year and create a new one.
“We are still committed to the South Capitol site,” said Jack Evans, a Ward 2 Democrat who has expressed skepticism about claims that the RFK site is cheaper. “The RFK site, if it comes back into play, needs to be thoroughly vetted.”
Some council members also said they were upset by a suggestion by Mr. Reinsdorf that attendance at Nationals games this season was disappointing.
“He said for an inaugural season, it was not a success,” Mr. Fenty said. “It’s a real slap-in-the face statement.”
Other council members, including Vincent C. Gray, Ward 7 Democrat, said he thought Mr. Reinsdorf was merely suggesting that the team would draw even better at a new ballpark along South Capitol Street.
The Nationals drew about 2.7 million fans in 2005, and team supporters said it was a very positive number given the team’s minimal marketing budget and limited television exposure. But their attendance was lower than in the inaugural seasons of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies, when each drew more than 3 million fans.
Mr. Reinsdorf also said the league would not name an owner before the lease is signed and approved by the council, but that the league might agree that the owner should be taxed in the District, even if he resides elsewhere, council members said.
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