the expos

smazza · May 6, 2004

IT IS WITHIN Major League Baseball's power to end the sad, nomadic life of the Expos, give relief to the 20 major league clubs that now own and operate the Montreal team, and satisfy a market of 4.5 million residents by moving the Expos to this wealthy and baseball-starved area. The league's relocation committee will meet with D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams and other city leaders today to review the city's revised case for returning baseball to the nation's capital. The committee also reportedly has in hand a strengthened bid from a Northern Virginia group. A strong recommendation from the relocation committee at the owners' meeting scheduled for later this month in New York should, if a decision is made on the merits, place competing Washington-area contingents ahead of Portland, Ore.; Norfolk; Las Vegas; and Monterrey, Mexico.

Mr. Williams has met the owners more than halfway by offering to build a $340 million ballpark funded by the District. Northern Virginia is reportedly also showing flexibility in its financing plan by shifting the future owner's upfront payments to a longer-term rent stream. In both cases, should either Washington or Northern Virginia win, RFK Stadium will be the home of the Expos for three years, until a new stadium is built.

Today's meeting of the relocation committee should draw the undivided attention of more than the owners. District residents will also want to be sure that the mayor's proposal produces economic benefits to the city that more than cover the costs of building a new stadium. Taxes on D.C. businesses, tickets, stadium concessions and the like are expected to pay for the stadium under the mayor's plan. Some costs, however, will undoubtedly be passed on to the consuming public. The mayor will have to satisfy both the owners and his constituents that a publicly financed stadium can be sustained by a city facing a structural budget deficit. Northern Virginians must be equally satisfied that the costs of bringing in baseball will not outweigh the public benefits. Ultimately, the numbers have to work, both for baseball and for Washington area residents, many of whom are baseball fans -- and all of whom are taxpayers.