Arlington's opposition to a new ballpark has hobbled Northern Virginia's quest for a team at a time when Major League Baseball faces growing pressure to finally move the Montreal Expos to the Washington area or somewhere else, industry sources say.
The players union opposes any plan to have the Expos again play a split-season of games in Puerto Rico and Montreal, as they are doing this season. The team itself, both its players and front office, are increasingly eager for a return to independence and profitability.
Hillevi "Dusty" Einseln, left, Jason Ambler, center, and Robert Waffle show displeasure with the County Board's opposition to a ballpark, which reduced Northern Virginia's chances of getting a baseball team.
(Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post)
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And the 29 other teams that collectively bought the Expos last year and are responsible for operating losses expected to run as much as $15 million this year are eager to end the team's long-running limbo.
"I don't think it's good for baseball," said Tom Hicks, owner of the Texas Rangers and a member of the league's relocation committee. "I think we need to get it resolved as soon as possible."
On the day the Arlington County Board delivered its letter to the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority opposing any ballpark plan, Hicks and others in baseball said the league has no appetite for a protracted battle over stadium sites.
"We're not going to any town that doesn't want a stadium," Hicks said.
Arlington board Chairman Paul Ferguson (D) said in the letter that at least one of three sites proposed in the county -- two in Pentagon City and one in Rosslyn -- could be more profitably developed through other projects. He also expressed frustration with baseball for its slow pace in making a decision.
Major League Baseball officials had announced plans to recommend a new home for the Expos by this week's all-star break, but that date passed without action. Baseball officials now say a decision is likely near the end of the season in the fall.
"The arrogance of Major League Baseball is unbelievable," Ferguson wrote.
He added at a morning news conference yesterday: "The opportunity [in Arlington] has come and gone with Major League Baseball."
The two other sites publicly proposed by Virginia baseball officials are far from the region's urban core and not easily accessible to Metro lines. They, too, face local opposition.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted last month to oppose a site near Fort Belvoir's former Engineer Proving Ground in Springfield.
And Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott K. York (R) said the final site in Northern Virginia, near Dulles International Airport, is problematic.
"It would be very difficult for the board, or the county, to support it right there because there's not the transportation infrastructure to support it, and what I'm talking about is rail," he said.
