Marlins Stadium Dead - At least to the State

It's old news by now (probably) but the Marlins efforts to receive $60 million in tax relief from the state will not even be discussed on the floor of the Senate today, which is the last day of this legislative session.  

That's bad news for the Marlins, but no one is actually sure what that means. David Samson promised yesterday to call in to 790 the Ticket this afternoon at 5:04 (after the legislative session is officially ended) to discuss what the next steps are/might be.  If you're in town, tune in - if you're not, you can listen live via the internet.

Originally I wanted to link to today's Herald cover story, but the online edition is slightly different from the print. In the print edition the headline refers to how the Marlins stadium plans are dead. The sub-headline says something about how Governor Bush's plan for classroom size control is also not going through. I just thought that was an interesting reflection of our priorities.

Since I think many of you are out of town, I'll share the sentiment that's been on the radio and around town.  Actually, it's very mixed. Some folks are happy that the stadium doesn't seem to be coming (even if they're Marlins fans). Other blame anyone and everyone from team president Samson, to the State Senate, to your local politican, to pretty much everyone except Billy the Marlin.

One of the louder complaints of late is the Carlos Delgado signing. Mr. Loria came up with $52 million for Delgado and now the looming threat is that the Marlins will leave town for Las Vegas over a $60 million shortfall in stadium financing. While seemingly everyone acknowledges that Delgado is a great player, at least three folks I heard on the radio this morning questioned why the money spent on Delgado wasn't directed towards the stadium effort instead.