A bill to establish a state commission to "seek ways to
build" a new ballpark for the Marlins and "make
recommendations to state and local governments on how to pay
for it sailed through its first hearing" in a FL House of
Representatives committee by a 7-0 vote yesterday (Ft.
Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 4/25). This comes after team Owner
John Henry "has sped up his efforts to find new building
options while trying to avoid any sort of dismantling of his
young team." Henry: "This community could not stand another
dismantling. You build a ballpark with the support of the
community. And we would lose all the support that we have
if we were to be in a position where we have to dismantle a
team" (PALM BEACH POST, 4/24). In Ft. Lauderdale, Michael
Mayo criticized Henry's approach to a new ballpark: "In
trying to get public support (and money) for a new stadium,
Henry has shown all the public relations sense of Janet
Reno. ... It's kind of sad watching a decent, honest guy
trying to muddle through this, because he doesn't seem to
have the political will or way to play big-league extortion
hardball" (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 4/24).
SLOW OUT OF THE GATE: In FL, Talalay & O'Brien wrote
that as of Thursday, the Marlins had sold 6,500 season
tickets for the 2000 season, down 28.5% from the 9,100 sold
last year. Season-ticket sales have declined each year
since the 20,000 sold in the team's inaugural season of '93,
except for a spike in '97. Marlins VP/Sales Lou DiPaoli: "I
always say there are three things that bring people out.
Winning, scoring runs and your ballpark. We've had the
worst winning percentage, fewest runs scored the last couple
of years and [at] our ballpark, you're going to get wet"
(Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 4/21).
