Rooting for the Home Team

I haven't blogged at all on the stadium thingy, for the same reason I haven't watch the Super Bowl pregame show since I was 8 or watch MSNBC in the afternoon: nothing's really happening, despite the media spotlight. I did manage to find 52 seconds yesterday afternoon to put my view into words over at Yuda's:

MLB overplayed its hand by not naming an owner and trying to wring as much
as a possible out of the deal over the past year. Combined with the increased
costs, the Council is properly pushing back.

Right now I’ve almost gone round 180 degrees on this. I’m rooting for the
City Council. The best way to ensure that a team stays in DC is to have it pay
for the stadium itself. DC should push for that goal as much as possible right
now.

Whether we move much from the current stalemate depends on whether the
other owners are paying attention enough to realize that their $450M price tag
for the Nats will be going down soon.

— DM 14 hours ago #

Somehow, I’m starting to think that a book by Nakamura/Heath might be
more interesting than St. Barry’s forthcoming release.

— Basil 14 hours ago #

If you want a more coherent exposition of this, with citations to the record, visit Capitol Punishment. I will add this, though. The fact that one of the owner groups is willing to pick up the cost overruns confirms that the City Council is right to negotiate this and push back on MLB. Now we know why MLB is so reluctant to name an owner -- Bud and DuPuy are in this to preserve the precedent for public stadium financing, which has been eroding over the past few years. They know a new local owner won't really care much about that -- they'll have a ballclub to run. What we may really be seeing is how much the other owners are willing to spend to preserve that precedent. My guess it is not very much.

Recall that MLB was more than willing to stick it to the new owners by cutting a bad TV deal that devalues the club, for two reasons: (1) it was afraid of Peter Angelos; and (2) it was afraid of the black eye from having the Nats not on any TV outlet. MLB will be afraid of the black eye from moving this team again, and from the other owners who may be losing out on a free $15 million. Stick it to 'em, D.C.