Major League Baseball has been promised money generated from stadium naming rights and significant portions from parking, concessions and ticket sales. Evans said he told Cooke that changing those parts of the deal to give more revenue to BW Realty is not possible because baseball officials would object.
"The three of us asked a lot of questions that were not answered," Evans said of himself, Cropp and Mark Tuohey, chairman of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, who also attended the meeting. "My first question was, 'What's in it for you?' They were vague. . . . At this point, I'm not convinced this would work."
Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) says she is "just looking for a better deal" for the city.
(Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
|
|
Cooke disputed that, saying he provided significant details. He said BW Realty hopes the concept "resonates enough with elected officials, and hopefully the general public and Major League Baseball, that it can be fleshed out and brought to fruition."
Until then, he added, "we are not anywhere close for a full-blown detailed plan to be done."
Mayoral advisers have described BW Realty's finance plan as a questionable tax-shelter method known as "sale-in, lease-out," in which the company, unlike the government, could use the depreciation of the stadium as a write-off on its investors' income tax. This practice was legal until last month, when President Bush signed legislation closing the loophole, said a U.S. Senate staff member who worked on the legislation.
But the Senate staff member said the BW Realty deal did not appear to be a "sale-in, lease-out" arrangement because the company would not be leasing the stadium back to the government but rather to a private entity -- the team owners. Cooke said the plan would pay investors a profit of 10 percent annually over 25 years, largely through tax write-offs.
Evans and others noted that Major League Baseball is interested in having the least risk in getting the stadium built.
"If we cede it to private developers and they can't get it done, we'll sue them, and they'll sue us, and it will be in the courts," Evans said. "And meanwhile, the stadium isn't getting built."
