San Antonio Appears to be Out of the Running

by craig on Apr 20, 2006 6:53 AM EDT in News Comment 0 comments

This comes as absolutely no surprise to anyone who has been following this closely.

Florida Marlins president David Samson reiterated Wednesday the team's desire to remain in South Florida.

"We have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears and criticisms and world championships and trades into this market, and we would like to see it through to its logical conclusion," Samson told Miami radio station WAXY 790-AM.

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"I understand what they are doing," Samson said of Wolff and other county officials. "They are trying to do what is best for their community. At the same time, things don't often work as quickly as you like them to work in any scenario. Deadlines, once they are broken, you've got credibility issues."

Given what Samson said, not that he can be completely trusted, MLB and the Marlins are planning to let the deadline pass which will basically kill the San Antonio offer.

In news concerning a new South Florida stadium, Hialeah is still moving forward:

With the focus of stadium talks now on Hialeah, the city and the Marlins got a boost Wednesday when Miami-Dade County Commissioners agreed to allow development on a swath of land in the western portion of the city.

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"I've always made it very clear this is one of the steps," Robaina said after the commission's vote, which occurred with no discussion of the Marlins locating there. "This makes it much easier. This gives us another option we're able to bring to the table."

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The site includes about 500 acres owned by developer Armando Codina, who has been supportive of keeping the Marlins in South Florida, but his plans for an industrial-style park on the site do not include a stadium.

"If Hialeah wants to talk to the Marlins, that's up to them," Codina said. "But that's not the focus of my planning."

The Urban Development Boundary extension is for the landfill site and not the race track. So, if it happens, the stadium would be built on unwanted refuse. I will refrain from comment.

Pieces of the puzzle are slowly coming together but I wouldn't get too excited yet. Even if free land becomes available it still doesn't address the funding of building a stadium. The mayor of Hialeah is still hoping MLB will step in and contribute.

While I think it would be an intelligent thing for the League to do, if they want to keep baseball in South Florida, I don't believe they will.

On a side note: FishStripes, after the comments of Samson went to press, has started to get an increase in hits from Portland.

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