Marlin's Stadium

[BULLO12]

Legislators to decide on state's share

ESPN.com news services

MIAMI -- The Marlins will find out today whether a stadium deal announced Thursday with local leaders comes too late to persuade state legislators to part with $60 million at the last minute to help fund the project.

State House and Senate leaders are meeting today, the final day of the 2004 legislative session.

City of Miami officials, Miami-Dade County officials and the Marlins announced financing plans Thursday to build a new park for the club on part of East Little Havana's Orange Bowl property.

The Marlins say they are ready to break ground on a stadium as early as Oct. 1 if financing is in place. The team would change its name to the Miami Marlins.

But without the $60 million from legislators, the plan would be much more difficult to implement.

"That's a bridge we'll have to jump off of tomorrow [Friday] at 5:01 p.m. if it doesn't come through," Marlins president David Samson told reporters Thursday.

House Speaker Johnnie Byrd told the Miami Herald on Wednesday there was little chance the Marlins would get any money. Team supporter and Hialeah Rep. Ralph Arza said Thursday: ''I think it's dead."

[TripleB]

They should have been called the Miami Marlins from the beginning ............ Stick it to em, Johnnie!