Still, he said, he won't stop.
"I never get discouraged. . . . Discouraged is just not part of my personality," Collins said. "An entire generation of kids and fans hasn't had a home team to root for. It's really that simple and plain."
Lawyer Paul Shiffman, an investor since the mid-1990s who has coached Little League in McLean for 37 years, said he and Collins share the same simple, and perhaps sentimental-sounding, motivations.
William L. Collins III, leader of the Virginia Baseball Club, speaks at the Babe Ruth World Series banquet at Loudoun Valley High School in Purcellville.
(Katherine Frey For The Washington Post)
|
|
"If you give back to the community, you feel something good about life. . . . It really has been a civic love," Shiffman said. "Some people in the public may not believe that but it's really true. You don't invest in something like this. You go out and put your money in something else."
Major league executives have spent much time seeking details on how Virginia's massive undertaking would be coordinated. The stadium authority has led discussions with league representatives. If baseball chooses Northern Virginia, the stadium authority would be responsible for building the $360 million ballpark.
But the authority's complex plan relies on private developers to build tens of millions of dollars worth of road projects and other improvements needed for the stadium.
"It's no good if you build a stadium and the roads don't take you there," said Laurence E. Bensignor, chairman of Diamond Lake Associates. Similarly, for a community he plans to market based on its baseball aura, "It would be nice to have Major League Baseball there, instead of cranes."
Such logistical hurdles have played into discussions with the league, but are surmountable, he said.
"We're working with the stadium authority on documentation at the same time they're working on their deal with Major League Baseball. It gets a little chicken-and-egg. You kind of work them at the same time," Bensignor said.
The stadium would be underwritten with a tangled financing plan. One-third would be paid by the team's owners -- whether Collins's group or another bidder. The other two-thirds would be financed with government bonds, to be repaid by taxing concessions, player salaries and other stadium-related spending.
The development group, which would build and own the parking lots and oversee stadium-related retail, would hand over $7.5 million to the authority annually. Team owners would be given 40 percent of whatever stadium authority revenue is left each year, after debt service and other obligations are paid, to fund ballpark operations.
Collins would not say whether any of his partners have reached ownership or other agreements with Diamond Lake's developers.
But he said some of his partners are considering moving their companies to new buildings at Diamond Lake if they win a team. Some partners said they hope to get a piece of the Diamond Lake development, but nothing had been promised them.
Collins said his focus remains on building a great team.
"I have visions of creating the most successful baseball franchise we could possibly do, in one of the best markets in the world. . . . We think the development at Dulles just enriches that, the ability to create something special," Collins said.
But the deadline appears near, Collins said. The state financing plan expires at year's end, and the chances of extending it are slim, he said.
"I think there would be a feeling, 'If baseball doesn't do it this time, it'll never happen. So why?' Remember, Washington has had a 30-year history of this. Virginia, thank God, has only had a 12-year history," Collins said.
"If it doesn't happen, how long do you go on? Ad infinitum? There's nothing more we can do in this process," he added. "We're giving baseball everything they want."
Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
