Northern Virginia Takes A Slight Lead In Landing 'Les Expos' in 2004?

[sds70]

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/images/I49339-2003Mar29L



Brian Hannigan and Gabe Paul Jr. of the Virginia Baseball Authority uncover a model of the ballpark as architect Bryan Trubey discusses possible locations.




It looks like Northern Virigina might've taken a slight over D.C. & Portland in trying to bring the Montreal Expos to town in 2004. Area politicos & bigwigs recently unveiled a model of what the new 50,000 seat ballpark would look like and how it would be finance (approximate cost: $400 million!!!!!! 5 preliminary ballpark sites have been looked at, but a final location havent been chosen yet). Officials in D.C. & Portland still haven't offered a concrete plan on how they would build a ballpark & what it would look like, but I'm sure that would happen eventually . . . .


3/29 Washington Post Article on NoVa's Stadium Presentation to MLB Officials (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49012-2003Mar29.html)



Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority Website . . NOTE: A couple of fairly good computer generated photo of what the ballpark would look like is on the home page :) (http://www.baseballinva.org/)

[DaveW]

Give me the Knight's downtown and I'm perfectly happy. No overpriced major league crap.

[sds70]

Originally posted by DaveW
Give me the Knight's downtown and I'm perfectly happy. No overpriced major league crap.


I wish someone would come up with a way for the Knights to play Uptown . . . Hardly anybody pays any attention to them in Fort Mill now . . . Shinn thought it was a good idea at the time, but just like the Coliseum right after Knights Stadium was built, the trend to build ballparks/arenas downtown started .. . City missed the boat on both issues :( :( !!!!!

[The Brain]

I say shut the team down and have an allocation draft of the players out to the other teams... it would help with the revenue sharing problem.

[The Brain]

PS- You also forgot to add that Puerto Rico was being considered as a possible home to them.

[sds70]

Originally posted by The Brain
PS- You also forgot to add that Puerto Rico was being considered as a possible home to them.


Ooops, I forgot about that . . . . Puerto Rico was expressing interest in having the Expos move there, but I don't know if they have a legitimate shot or not . . . Could they finance a new stadium :confused: The one where the Expos are playing their 'home' games is a short term solution at best . .

[sds70]

Bump . . It looks like Northern Virgina M-I-G-H-T have taken a small lead in landing the Expos now . . DC Politicos are getting cold feet about the proposed stadium financing plan


DC Politicos Get Cold Feet Over Ballpark Financing Plan (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29896-2003Jun7.html)


DC Finance Chief Gets Cold Feet Over Ballpark Financing Plan (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52479-2003Jun12.html)

[sds70]

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/images/I11273-2003Jun18L



bump . . . A better color photo of what a proposed MLB Ballpark in Virginia would look like . . . BTW, isn't MLB suppose to decide by the all-star break what's going to happen to the Expos in 2004 :confused: ? ?

[sds70]

Bump . . . It looks like MLB won't have a decision by the All-Star break on whether or where les Expos will play in 2004 (Montreal, DC/Northern Virgina, Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Charlotte, Research Triangle Park, Hartford, Portland, Fresno, etc.) . . . I guess MLB is really skeered that O's owner Peter Angelos is going to bitch about the Expos playing 40 miles down I-95 :rolleyes: :rolleyes: . . . They are the one market that can support MLB now and have 2 (albeit, incomplete) proposals from DC & NoVa to build a new ballpark (after the team plays at RFK Stadium for 2-3 years) . .


MLB Says: No Decision on Expos Fate by All-Star Break Next Week (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40358-2003Jul10.html)




Tom Boswell WASHINGTON POST Commentary on MLB/Expos Issue (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40589-2003Jul10.html)

[sds70]

Bump :) . . . Arlington County Politicos Say: 'We don't want no stinkin MLB Ballpark!!!!!!!' (http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2003/0718/1582489.html)

[uncc86]

Originally posted by sds70
I wish someone would come up with a way for the Knights to play Uptown . . . Hardly anybody pays any attention to them in Fort Mill now . . . Shinn thought it was a good idea at the time, but just like the Coliseum right after Knights Stadium was built, the trend to build ballparks/arenas downtown started .. . City missed the boat on both issues :( :( !!!!!

According to the stories I've been told.......Shinn thought Fort Mill was a good idea because the land was donated to him....not sure if its true, but I've heard it from multiple, normally reliable sources AND IMO its fits with Shinn's way of doing business.

I had asked Tim Newman (previous Knights GM) on several occasions and he said basically that it would addressed by the City right after the Coliseum fiasco was resolved.

Now that I've learned our City Government leaders would just as soon try to sell me oceanfront property in Idaho, I guess its time to start pestering Bill Blackwell (current Knights GM) about it the next time I go to a Knights game.

For the few of you that still commute to Fort Mill for games....ask for him. Hes normally at the games I attend & I've found him very willing to talk with people.


A "AAA baseball team" back in the city would beat a "major league team" in Charlotte any day of the week.

[kshead]

Every government budget in VA, DC and MD is bleeding red ink and MLB wants to hold the area up for a couple hundred mil?

Fuck baseball. Pay for your own shit.