By David Nakamura and Thomas Heath
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 5, 2006

Major League Baseball officials formally asked the American Arbitration Association to help settle a standoff with the District over construction of a stadium yesterday, even as D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) questioned the need for arbitrators to get involved.

Williams said at his weekly news conference that city officials continue discussions with baseball representatives and are moving toward a resolution that will allow the ballpark to be built along the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington.

"There will be give and take on both sides," Williams said, declining to offer specifics. Asked about the possibility of arbitration, Williams added: "You would expect in a negotiation they would put this in as a legal placeholder, but it's really questionable what there is to arbitrate. We have an agreement, and we're working within the parameters of that."

Baseball President Robert A. DuPuy said the District's failure to ratify a stadium lease agreement between baseball and the city led baseball officials to believe arbitration is necessary. Under the arbitration process, the two parties first would engage in mediation -- a nonbinding discussion.

The deadline for approval of the lease agreement was Sunday, but Williams withdrew the document from the council's consideration two weeks ago because he did not have enough support among the 13 members.

The "best way to move the process forward for the benefit of the District's baseball fans is through the mediation process," DuPuy said in a written statement. "It is our contractual right to seek mediation as a tool to convince the parties to fulfill their obligations as set forth in the contract that was agreed to more than a year ago."

Although the council approved a $535 million budget for the stadium project last year, recent estimates from city financial officials put the figure at $667 million. Eight council members have said they will not support the lease unless Williams and baseball guarantee that any cost overruns will not be paid for by the city's general fund.

Mayoral aides said the Williams administration may announce changes in the lease agreement by the end of this week and will resubmit it to the council within two weeks.

The stadium agreement that Major League Baseball and the city signed in September 2004 calls for the city to build a ballpark for the Washington Nationals near the Navy Yard and South Capitol Street in Southeast Washington and stipulates that disagreements over any part of the stadium contract be settled first through mediation that is not to exceed 15 days.

District government and baseball officials said the American Arbitration Association would select a mediator, a process that could take a few days to two weeks.

It is not clear who would represent the District. Baseball named the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission as the opposing party in its filing, but Williams administration officials have said the D.C. attorney general's office could get involved.

If the sides cannot agree during the mediation period, the agreement calls for baseball officials and the city to claim a "dispute" and proceed to binding arbitration before a three-member panel.

Williams said it was unclear whether the arbitrators could order the District to approve a lease deal or simply rule that the city owes monetary damages to baseball. Baseball officials said yesterday that they believe the arbitrator can impose the lease conditions without council approval. However, a city lawyer expressed doubt about whether the arbitrator can override the council.

The arbitration process would be aborted if the D.C. Council were to approve the lease in the meantime, officials said.

Council member Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6), a stadium supporter, said her colleagues must understand that the city could be liable for hefty fines if the arbitrators rule against the District.

"I don't know where we'd be getting money to cover the fines we could get," Ambrose said. "If the fines have to come out of the general fund, then we've got a problem."

At his news conference, Williams said he was taken aback by an editorial column written by DuPuy that appeared in The Washington Post on Tuesday.

"The District, for all its many pluses, is not an easy city with which to do business," DuPuy wrote. "City leaders frequently quibble with baseball about its commitments, and they often quarrel with each other. There are so many interested parties in the D.C. government that it seems on some days that no one is in control and on other days that everyone wants to be in control."

Williams acknowledged that the District government had room to improve in terms of efficiency and accountability. But he added that baseball also missed its own deadlines repeatedly, such as on the long-awaited sale of the Nationals. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has set several deadlines for the sale starting in the spring, but the franchise still has not been sold.

"How many commitments has baseball made that they do not keep?" Williams asked. "No one should be pointing fingers at anyone else."