How Miami got a new stadium

MIAMI - Baseball fans in South Florida wish they had a team like the Tampa Bay Rays.

"They are the most refreshing team in Major League Baseball," says Mike Levine, host of a baseball talk show on Miami radio station WQAM. "The Marlins should emulate the Rays. They have a payroll far less than the Marlins."

But even as the Rays overachieve on the field, the Marlins are getting what the Rays have wanted for years: a new ballpark. It's a 37,000 seat stadium with a retractable roof on the edge of Miami's Little Havana neighborhood.

"I like it. It's beautiful," says Little Havana resident and Cuban Immigrant Raul Rodriquez.

The $515 million dollar ballpark is more than 80 percent complete.

"It will promote urban sprawl," says Marlins president David Samson. But in this case, he says, urban sprawl will be good.

Samson and other stadium backers believe the ballpark will be an economic engine to create a new business district, stretching more than a mile from Downtown Miami to the stadium in Little Havana.

How Miami Is Paying

Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is kicking in around $155 million for the ballpark. Most of the rest is being bankrolled by Miami-Dade County. The local government issued bonds backed by the county's tourist tax, mostly collected from visitors to the area.

The county owns the stadium, and the Marlins have a 35-year lease.

The team has played for years in what used to be known as Joe Robbie stadium, home of the Dolphins, designed mainly for football. With no roof, the Marlins and their fans have suffered through countless rainouts and rain delays.

The team, now under its third owner, has fought long and hard for a new ballpark. But, not everyone is a fan of the deal that was finally done.

The Man Who Cried Foul

Norman Braman, owner of numerous car dealerships in south Florida, filed a lawsuit to stop the stadium deal.

"I'm against corporate welfare," says Braman, who once owned the Philadelphia Eagles.

Braman's suit was dismissed. But he later led a successful campaign to remove the Miami-Dade mayor from office. Among other things, the recalled mayor supported the stadium deal.

"It's just not right for the taxpayers to have to bear the burden of constructing sports stadiums when these teams have a great value themselves," he says.

Braman fought for a public vote on the ballpark, but he was unable to get one. He believes if a vote had happened, "It would have gone down overwhelmingly."

"No government action gets 100 percent approval," says Samson. "This deal was done without creating any new taxes."

Can It Happen Here?

In the Tampa Bay area, the Tourist Tax is paying for part of the debt on Tropicana Field. It's scheduled to be paid off in 2015. But it's not clear if Pinellas County Commissioners will extend the tax to pay for a new stadium.

Commissioner Norm Roche has suggested using the money to maintain county parks, or to renourish beaches.

The outlook is further complicated with talk that the Rays could be more successful in Tampa or Hillsborough County. St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster opposes any move out of Pinellas because of the team's long-term contract with the city and the Trop.

Do They Talk?

The new Miami ballpark is similar to the one the Rays would want, with a retractable roof and relatively small seating capacity. And, the ownership in Miami knows a thing or two about a hard fight for a new stadium, including legal battles.

The president of the Marlins is good friends with the owner of the Rays, Stuart Sternberg. It's not going out on a limb to speculate they may discuss their common challenges. When I asked Samson what advice he's given Sternberg, he said, "Not anything I'd like to share publicly right now."

But, the Rays may look for advice from across the state. As Miami's quest for a new ballpark moves to conclusion, Tampa Bay's is just beginning.