David Samson
David Samson
again baseball cities couple exploring focus great hope mayor meet next officials wants year
Right now we are working with the officials of Hialeah, and we're working with the mayor there. He's a great man. He's got vision. He wants to see baseball there. He's doing his work; we're doing our work. We hope to meet again in the next couple of weeks. We're exploring other cities with the focus still on Florida. We'll see how the year progresses.
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Miami, the Gateway to the Americas, could well be the first American city in 35 years to see its baseball franchise leave. People in Washington D.C. know very well how long it took to get a team back.
baseball best building built chance discovered keeping somewhere south team
We've discovered now that our best chance, and the best chance for baseball in South Florida, is to get a building built somewhere and making it work. The important thing is keeping the team here.
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I don't think one player gets a stadium deal done. Cities that want baseball want it for 50 years. They're looking for the name on the front of the jersey. They're not focused on a specific player.
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To imagine baseball getting involved is not far-fetched. How the involvement will end up looking is not yet determined.
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No longer can baseball in South Florida be assured,
anywhere attending baseball believe build building drive far north people perfect seen site south spot sticks teach tradition west
I haven't seen a spot that really sticks out anywhere in South Florida. There is no perfect site. If you are too far south, the people north are unhappy. If you're too far east, the people out west are unhappy. So, I believe now the new perfect site is anywhere, and we'll teach people how to drive to the stadium. We'll build a tradition in this building for 30-40 years, and people will be more comfortable attending baseball games.
ask attract baseball businesses corporate deciding decisions government help
Governments do make decisions when they attract businesses to the community. Baseball is not the only industry, by any stretch, to ask for government help when deciding where to have its corporate headquarters.
agreed deal financing mind plan preference require small stay talked
We talked about a financing plan they had in mind that would require a very small contribution by the team. We told them our preference is to stay in Florida, but we have no deal in Florida. We agreed that we will stay in touch.
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I understand what they are doing. They are trying to do what is best for their community. At the same time, things don't often work as quickly as you like them to work in any scenario. Deadlines, once they are broken, you've got credibility issues.
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We scheduled it that way. They were spring break games and we turned them into afternoon games so people who had commitments at night would be able to come to the game in the afternoon. It's keeping all the options open for everybody.
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There's no more fake deadlines or real deadlines. This is about the Marlins trying to save its franchise. We need a place to play after 2010, and we don't have one.
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We're definitely negotiating with everybody, and we're trying to get a deal done here because it is our first choice. But we recognize it may not happen and we don't have much time left.
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We have bent over backwards with the amount of genuflecting we've done to ingratiate ourselves with the Montreal community.