The DC Sports Commission plans to hire a consultant within
the next few weeks to examine the feasibility of a downtown
baseball stadium near the MCI Center, which is currently under
construction. Lena Sun of the WASHINGTON POST reports the
Commission has been talking to two groups, The Virginia Baseball
Club, led by William Collins, and the L'Enfant Group, headed by
Calvin Hill, about bringing a team to the DC area. The
consultant would study the availability of land and the traffic
issues related to a stadium at Gallery Place (WASHINGTON POST,
5/28). Meanwhile, the FAA has asked Arlington County, VA, to
perform $7,500 worth of studies to determine whether a stadium
would interfere with navigation and air traffic control of planes
attempting to land at nearby National Airport (Lipton &
Nakashima, WASHINGTON POST, 5/29). Loudoun County, VA, may re-
enter the stadium derby with site west of Dulles Airport. Unlike
a previous plan, rejected because the county would have had to
foot a $30M bill, the new strategy calls for area entrepreneurs
or the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority to buy the land and
build the stadium (WASHINGTON TIMES, 5/29).
VA JACKPOT: If a site for a new stadium in Northern
Virginia is settled on, state legislators say that the lottery
"is shaping up as the most likely" form of state money. The
WASHINGTON TIMES reports that because Gov. George Allen opposes
any tax increase, legislators have had to look to new lottery
games and "a hodgepodge of small user fees" to pay for the
stadium (WASHINGTON TIMES, 5/28). NEED A LEADER: The POST's
Eric Lipton examines the lack of a leader driving the bid for a
stadium in VA, with some blaming "Disney-itis" -- a fear of being
associated with a failed project like the Disney theme park in
Prince William County (WASHINGTON POST, 5/25).
