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.