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The Stadium Deal - Again

And the soap opera continues.

Major League Baseball officials expressed disappointment Tuesday that the Marlins have not received financial help from the state to build a new home and still have no alternative to Dolphin Stadium.

"The commissioner is very upset,'' MLB President Bob DuPuy said before the All-Star Game. "We really thought we were going to get something done this year and we spent a lot of time down there and we had a lot of reason to think we were gong to get something done.

I can't understand why they are disappointed that the state didn't come through.  The Marlins have been to the state legislature seven times (IIRC), and it has failed every time.  This truly can't come as a surprise.

The good new is that MLB is going to keep trying to help to get a stadium for the Fish.

"I'm just not going to give up. We thought the stars were aligned. We thought everything was in place to get that final piece. We were very disappointed when that Legislature adjourned without passing.'' Commissioner Bud Selig said he is not ready to tell the Marlins to look outside of South Florida.

If MLB ever tells the Marlins to look outside of South Florida, the team is gone.  But you already know that.

The way it appears to me is the only Plan B is hoping UM moves and the Orange Bowl is razed and the renovation money set aside for that stadium is transfered to building a new baseball only park for the Marlins.

If that were to happen, and there is absolutely no guarantee that it will, that location isn't the best for a new baseball stadium.

MLB favors a downtown Miami location for the park, as do I.

We had a great downtown site and all of a sudden the news developed that the Orange Bowl might be vacated and the commissioners got very concerned about a vacant Orange Bowl and a white elephant, so people turned their attention back to the Orange Bowl site,'' DuPuy said.

 But it is not clear to me that even if a stadium is financially feasible at the Orange Bowl site, that MLB will find that as an acceptable alternative.

"I think south Florida, with right ballpark, could be an excellent major league franchise," Selig said. "There isn't a doubt in my mind."

So, in other words, nothing has changed but the clock keeps ticking.