Williams To Offer City-Paid Stadium

Cheaper Plan Cuts Start-Up Costs For Team Owners

D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams is preparing to tell Major League Baseball officials that the District can fully fund construction of a new stadium for less than $400 million at several sites, an idea that has rankled many city leaders who wonder where the money will come from.

The proposal, which is still being developed, is the mayor's latest attempt to win the relocation of the Montreal Expos, whose future could be decided by baseball officials this summer.

Baseball officials had previously balked at presentations by the District that would have required owners of the team to finance a portion of a new stadium, which was estimated to cost $436 million. But Williams (D) said yesterday that new options would reduce costs to between $340 million and $385 million, depending on which site is selected. That would include $13 million to renovate Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, where a team would play while a new stadium is under construction.

Building a new ballpark at RFK would be the cheapest and most expedient option, but Williams and other officials said they would prefer any of three other sites closer to downtown.

"We are moving toward a posture of fully financing a stadium in order to have an indisputable good proposal out there to baseball," Williams said of his plan, which was first reported in yesterday's editions of the Washington Times.

Some D.C. Council members expressed dismay that the mayor had not discussed his new financing package with them. The council would have to approve any public financing, and several members reaffirmed their opposition to raising taxes on residents or businesses to finance a stadium.

"I'm still curious where the money is going to come from," said David A. Catania (R-At Large). "I have not moved away from my position of not increasing taxes to fund a new stadium. I'm just unwilling to do that with so many other needs left unmet."

Administration officials said two months ago that they were considering a plan that would allow the contribution from the team's owners to be made gradually, in the form of rent payments or an additional surcharge on tickets. The goal, city officials said, is making the owners' initial cost as low as possible, allowing them to pay more for the Expos franchise, which is owned jointly by the owners of the league's 29 other teams.

Mark Tuohey, chairman of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, said there will be no broad-based tax on residents to pay for a new stadium.

"Our financing is more creative," said Tuohey, who declined to be specific.

City officials requested a meeting with baseball's relocation committee three weeks ago to present their new plan.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig declined to comment yesterday on Williams's proposal. Jerry McMorris, owner of the Colorado Rockies and an ally of Selig's, said the plan sounded like "a big step in the right direction."

But D.C. Council member Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4) said: "People don't support spending lots of public dollars on a baseball stadium. It's not going to happen. New libraries and rec centers, but not a new baseball stadium."

Last year, the mayor proposed spending $339 million of public funds on a new stadium. The plan relied on new taxes on business receipts, players' salaries and stadium revenue such as ticket and food sales. It would have directed $275 million to stadium construction and $15 million to renovating RFK Stadium as an interim home for the team. The rest of the money would have been for borrowing costs.