A Developing Situation

Franklin Haney, the fifth man in a three-team race to own the team, has made another splash, offering to pay for any stadium cost overruns in exchange for develpment rights to the ballpark district, if he gets ownership of the team. Currently, any cost overruns would be the responsibility of the city.

So although his announcement won't really affect MLB's attitude towards him that much, it could have a huge influence on the DC politics -- he's hoping to win them over to help them exert influence in the process. There will certainly be cost overruns -- the dirty secret of stadium building (as Milwaukee is still finding out!)

But there's another possibility, given one blogger's intrepid reporting. Just A Nats Fan recently did a post on the various ownership groups.

Yesterday, as she blogged about last night, she started getting lots of searches for info on Haney, including one from one of the competing, learned groups? Maybe it's just research? Maybe it's just a coincidence? Maybe it's a sign that they're looking to consolidate? Take me on as part of your group, and I'll run the development for you? Who knows! It's speculation at this point.

With the World Series over, hopefully they'll have news on the owner. The endgame is near. (Of course I've said that 14 times before.... but this time I mean it!)