Mayor Susan Golding and the Padres "hammered out a
probable ballpark deal during private talks" Friday,
according to Philip LaVelle of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE.
Golding said that "all major sticking points -- including
the Padres' commitment to redevelopment in the proposed
ballpark district downtown -- had been cleared up" (UNION-
TRIBUNE, 8/1). In San Diego, LaVelle & Braun reported that
the City Council will meet privately on Monday to discuss
the "Memorandum of Understanding" for the Padres' proposed
$411M ballpark-and-redevelopment project. Modest opposition
"is likely." The council will take public comment on
Tuesday, then vote on whether to put the pact on the
November ballot for approval by city voters. Golding said
that the Padres will finance at least $300M in private
development around the ballpark, including 850 new hotel
rooms, 600,000 square feet of office space and 150,000
square feet of retail. Padres President Larry Lucchino
discounted the thinking of some council members that the
problems arose after the Padres' developer presented team
execs with "the sobering realities" of urban development: "I
would say what they did is apprise us of some of the
challenges and some of the tools that were needed to
complete the job." Lucchino said that he did not know if
public support for the ballpark had been damaged by the
recent disputes between the team and the city, but the team
is polling San Diego voters to assess any erosion in their
support, "which was said to be better than 3-to-1 in a poll
conducted more than a month ago" (S.D. UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/2).
GLOBAL REACH: In San Diego, Gerry Braun reported that
the Padres' ballpark deal "allows the team to schedule as
many as 140 'home games' on foreign soil over the 30-year
life of the pact." Specifically, the team can play up to
three home games each season outside the continental U.S. --
"Hawaii and Mexico are cited as potential destinations --
and the team may play one home series, not to exceed five
games, every three years in Asia." Lucchino said that Japan
is the most likely Asian destination (UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/2).
