Va. Ballpark Would Buck Close-In Trend

The Loudoun site, about 21 miles from downtown Washington and 10 miles from Tysons Corner, later became the primary site. Only two ballparks in the country are even roughly comparable in their distance from a central downtown. The Florida Marlins' Pro Player Stadium is about 12 miles north of downtown Miami, and the Texas Rangers' Ameriquest Field in Arlington is about 16 miles west of downtown Dallas.

All the other major league parks are within seven miles of downtown, and most -- particularly in the last decade -- have been built much closer to or within the downtown as teams have found advantages in central locations.

Many fans prefer such locations.

"I don't get all hung up on baseball traditions," said John Rawlings, editorial director of the Sporting News, which publishes The Ballpark Book. "But to me, it feels more right to go downtown for a baseball game."

The San Francisco Giants recently built a park on the city's downtown waterfront after considering a suburban location that offered more parking and better weather. But, team officials said, they preferred the city site because of its population density, high incomes, public transportation and the scenery it offered.

"We felt it was the best setting for a ballpark in North America," said Larry Baer, chief operating officer for the team.

But Dennis Howard, a professor of sports marketing at the University of Oregon, said an urban location doesn't make much difference to attendees.

"I don't think it's a significant impulse," Howard said. "I think what they prefer is easy access and drive time that is going to be within 30 or 40 minutes."

One of the chief reasons so many teams have located in cities in recent years, Howard and others said, is that cities have offered to help pay for ballparks. City politicians have touted new venues as a form of economic development, though whether they are worth the cost has been disputed.

The $360 million Loudoun stadium would be financed with taxes on ballpark-related spending, such as on food and players' salaries. Developers of an associated retail and commercial project would help underwrite costs, according to the stadium financing plan.

Collins said comparing the Dulles site with close-in stadiums in other parts of the country misses what makes the Washington area special. The bulk of the region's businesses -- and families -- are not in the District, where the federal government dominates, but in booming Northern Virginia, he said. Those demographic realities are beyond his control, and they make Tysons the comparable downtown, not Washington, he said.

"If I could put the stadium in the middle of Tysons Corner, I would have done it," Collins said. "It's impossible. There's no land."