Maybe it’s a product of the bad economy, but any plans that you might have seen for a shiny new baseball stadium in your city are being put on hold. One has been pushed back a year, while the other may be on hold indefinitely.
The Miami Herald reports Wednesday that the Florida Marlins have pushed the opening of their 37,000-seat retractable roof stadium, on the old Orange Bowl site, back to 2012. Instead of economics, they blame a recent lawsuit by Miami auto dealer Norman Braman, who challenged the financing of the $515-million project but exhausted all arguments in court.
Now the Marlins must negotiate a one-year lease extension at Dolphin Stadium, which they share with football’s Miami Dolphins as well as the University of Miami, which used to play at the Orange Bowl before it was demolished to make way for the new Marlins stadium. This circle of sporting life is made more interesting by Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga’s promise to sell his stake in the team and the Fort Lauderdale stadium to co-owner and CRE developer Stephen Ross to avoid higher capital-gains taxes under the new Obama Administration.
Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays postponed plans for their own new stadium in Downtown St. Petersburg earlier this season, saying there wasn’t enough time to organize a meaningful referendum in this year’s election. Wonder how that vote would have gone had the Rays won the World Series?
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