Some Stadium Features May Be Cut

Allen Y. Lew, chief executive of the sports commission, said yesterday that he has ordered a full review of the stadium project to determine where costs can be reduced -- both inside and outside the ballpark. In the most recent plans, the complex is 100,000 square feet larger than the roughly 1.05 million square feet stipulated in last year's agreement between the city and baseball, Lew said.

If necessary, features not contained in the agreement will be eliminated or paid for in other ways, such as by private developers, he added. However, Lew and mayoral spokesman Vince Morris played down concerns that the stadium's quality might be compromised.

"It's way too early to say anything has been decided," Morris said. "We have to determine what we want and what [baseball officials] want and what makes sense."

But Cropp said that the commission told her in a briefing that the city might be forced to buy cheaper quality materials for features inside the ballpark.

The council's latest questions about costs prompted business Franklin L. Haney, who is heading one of the eight groups bidding to buy the Washington Nationals from Major League Baseball, to reiterate his offer to pay for overruns if he is awarded the team and some land nearby.

Yesterday, Catania challenged Cropp, arguing that the council had approved the stadium package last year after being told that the city needed a state-of-the-art ballpark to replace 44-year-old Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.

"If we want a Buick, we have one -- it's called RFK," said Catania, who voted against the financing package last year.

"What we have is a body that will approve this [financing] package out of inertia," Catania said to his colleagues. "Any way you slice it, we're already over [the budget]. Who will pay for it? Look around you. Shouldn't the people who will benefit from this stadium pay something?"

Catania added that the federal government owns a small parcel on the stadium site and that a congressional committee is considering legislation that would sell the plot to the District for "fair market value." That could add an unexpected $11 million to the city's tab, Catania said.

But a spokesman for the House Committee on Government Reform, headed by Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), said that committee is considering drafting legislation that would give the District the land for free.

Staff writers Thomas Heath and Eric M. Weiss contributed to this report.