A vote by Miami City Commissioners on a proposed new Florida Marlins ballpark has been delayed yet again, this time to March 19.
A vote by Miami City Commissioners on a proposed new Florida Marlins ballpark has been delayed yet again, this time to March 19.
The original final vote was on Feb. 13, but was delayed after commissioner Marc Sarnoff introduced provisions to the deal highly distasteful to the Marlins and MLB, including revenue sharing in the sale of naming rights and a future sale of the team. Since then progress on the ballpark has stalled, with another key city commissioner saying she won’t support the ballpark unless $500 million is spent by the city in her district.
In politics, votes are pushed back because there’s not enough support for the measure. So take this as a sign the numbers on the city commission don’t bode well for the Marlins. And we’ve not even begun discussing the prospects of the measures passing the Miami-Dade County Commission, where key members walked away from ongoing negotiations.
Meanwhile, the financial news surrounding the ballpark keeps getting worse and worse. Today the Miami Herald — which has turned into an essential resource on the topic — says there’s little chance revenues from the county’s hotel tax will yield as much money for ballpark construction as officials claim.
RELATED STORIES: Miami-Dade County withdraws from Marlins ballpark negotiations, putting entire deal in doubt; With A’s and Fish having ballpark problems, ‘C’ word comes up; New lawsuit filed against Fish ballpark; hearing dates changed again; Always read the fine print, as Marlins fans are discovering; Marlins ballpark vote delayed until March 12; Total borrowing cost of new Marlins ballpark: $1.9 billion
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