MLB denies report of paying $20 million to D.C.

Nov. 28, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Major League Baseball says it has not agreed to pay the District of Columbia's $20 million request to cover cost overruns on a new stadium for the Washington Nationals.
"All these items have been under discussion but there has been no agreement on any single point and there is no agreement until we have a consensus on all points," Major League Baseball president Bob DuPuy said Monday night.
Mark Tuohey, who is overseeing stadium construction, testified Monday before the D.C. Council that the $20 million had been agreed upon. Tuohey later clarified his comment in a story posted Monday night on the Washington Post's website.
"I didn't say an agreement had been reached on the $20 million," Tuohey told the newspaper. "I said we were close to an agreement."
Tuohey, chairman of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, did not return telephone messages left Monday evening by the Associated Press.
DuPuy told the AP that arbitration is still an option to resolve the impasse.
"If we don't have a lease by Dec. 31, it could go to arbitration," he said.
Tuohey testified at a hearing in which the D.C. Council scrutinized the deal it approved last year that allowed the Montreal Expos to move to Washington and become the Nationals. The council narrowly approved the plan to borrow $535 million to pay for the stadium last year, but three new members who are opposed to a publicly financed ballpark have replaced stadium supporters since then. Members have been seeking ways to cover cost overruns.
"It is not possible for the city to spend more than $535 million because the council has authorized the city to borrow that," said councilman Jack Evans.
Evans has been a staunch supporter of the baseball agreement, but has also expressed concern about the slow pace of the project.
Baseball said it won't select a prospective new owner until a lease is finalized. Eight groups have offered to pay about $450 million for the franchise, known as the Montreal Expos when it was bought by the other 29 teams in 2002.
Council members threatened to try to change the location of the proposed 41,000-seat ballpark, currently proposed for the Anacostia River waterfront, south of the U.S. Capitol. Many support a plan to put the new stadium next to RFK Stadium, where the Nationals are expected to play through the 2007 season.
"Without major concessions from Major League Baseball, the proposal to build a new stadium on the Southwest waterfront is pretty much dead," said councilman Jim Graham, one of six members who voted against the deal last year.
City officials urged the council to follow through on the original deal.
"We have a deal with Major League Baseball -- a signed contract," said city administrator Robert C. Bobb. He testified that baseball expects the city to meet the terms of that contract, including construction of the new ballpark.

Source: http://cbs.sportsline.com/