texas judge sets deadline on the marlins move

[bigboydan]

looks like texas judges don't like being played

SAN ANTONIO -- Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff plans to give the owners of the Florida Marlins a deadline to let officials know if they'll pursue a move to San Antonio.

San Antonio has been trying to lure the team and county officials have offered to put up $200 million toward an estimated $300 million ballpark if voters approve extending a tax on hotel and car rentals.

Wolff said Sunday that he planned to talk to his colleagues Monday and send a letter by fax to the Marlins with the deadline.

If voters are to be asked in November to consider extending the tax, then Wolff says he needs the answer from the Marlins soon. He said he faces an Aug. 15 deadline to get the issue on the ballot Nov. 7. Details between the county and the team would have to be worked out before then.

Major League Baseball president Bob DuPuy said baseball is waiting for the team to announce its plans.

"No one is waiting for a green light," DuPuy said in a story in Sunday's San Antonio Express-News. "This is a fluid process. This is not a black-and-white thing where [baseball says], 'We are going to do it in such and such a date.' We are trying to get this done in the best interest of the fans, the Marlins and the game. We are going to let it play out."

DuPuy said commissioner Bud Selig would like for the Marlins to remain in South Florida but hasn't discouraged them from talking to San Antonio.

Wolff told the newspaper that DuPuy had told him two weeks ago that baseball would let the county know by May 15 whether the Marlins would be allowed to pursue a move to San Antonio.

Florida Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has said the Marlins will not remain in Dolphin Stadium, home of Miami's NFL team, past 2010.

[Willie Bee]

I pulled a couple of those quotes, one from Judge Wolff and one from Dupuy, in my weekly recap. This was a pipe dream for the Alamo City from the word go. Not even sure why any city would want Loria's mess to begin with.

[Alamorich]

Nelson Wolff is a huge baseball fan...I think he wants it here more than anybody else. Most of us here can take it or leave it. I would love to have the Marlins come to town but real hard for me to see us showing up often enough for any major league team to make any money.

[Willie Bee]

Glad to see this is at least on hold. Hope it never comes up again.


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2446271

MIAMI -- San Antonio's offer to pledge $200 million toward the cost of building a new stadium for the Florida Marlins was dropped Monday, after Major League Baseball decided it could not meet the city's May 15 deadline for a firm deal to move the struggling franchise there.

MLB president Bob DuPuy wrote Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff -- the point man in the plan to woo the Marlins from Miami to Texas -- and, somewhat apologetically, said the deal could not be completed in the timeframe that he deemed necessary. Late last year, baseball officials gave the Marlins permission to seek relocation, after repeated attempts by the team to secure financing for a baseball-only stadium in South Florida ended in vain. The team is currently in talks with the city of Hialeah about building a facility in that Miami suburb.

"We have always stated that South Florida is our first priority, but continue to recognize San Antonio as a viable relocation option,'' Marlins president David Samson said.

The Marlins have played in Dolphin Stadium since their inception in 1993. Their lease ends in 2007, but the team could stay there through the 2010 season using a series of one-year options -- yet vows it will not play there any later than that.

DuPuy said that baseball found San Antonio to be an attractive candidate for a future franchise, a sentiment that Wolff clearly appreciated in his response to baseball's president.

"We would happily re-engage in discussions with both the Marlins and MLB, but only when the Marlins and MLB finally determine that they want to move the franchise to San Antonio,'' Wolff wrote.

Earlier this month, the Florida Legislature did not approve a plan to devote some state money toward the Marlins' ballpark plans -- the fifth time in six years that lawmakers in Tallahassee did not pass a bill to assist the two-time World Series winners.