Today's Shocking Development

The team's financial commitment doesn't match their words!

The Washington Nationals have contributed less than $8 million toward the construction of their new ballpark in the District, though club officials publicly said the team would spend as much as $50 million on stadium improvements...

The team's contributions include between $2.5 million and $3 million for an expansion of the ballpark's center-field restaurant, about $2 million to improve the stadium suites and about $3 million to upgrade the scoreboard and video display....

The Nationals still could provide funds for improvements made at a later date. However, D.C. officials said they were not aware of any such plans, and the amount of money spent or committed by the club thus far appears in conflict with statements made by team officials earlier this year that indicated a substantial infusion of cash from the Nationals was on the way.

"The design that we were given was so far along that we couldn't make major changes, but we did feel it needed a lot more pizzazz and a lot more in the way of entertainment elements," Nationals President Stan Kasten said in an interview in March. "That requires an expenditure of a lot of cash by these owners, and they've stepped up — tens of millions of dollars — because we know we only have one chance to get it right, and so it's really important to not cut corners."

Here's the original story from last December detailing the improvements they wanted to make.

The owners of the Washington Nationals plan to spend at least $30 million to improve the city-financed ballpark under construction on the Southeast waterfront, according to Mark Lerner, son of principal owner Theodore N. Lerner....

The D.C. Sports Commission is aware of $10 million in Lerner-financed stadium improvements, including the restaurant expansion that will cost $2.5 million and the club-level suite changes that will cost $2.4 million, according to commission spokesman Tony Robinson. Lerner said that, as additional projects arise, the family might pay more than $35 million in adjustments. A D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission source, who asked not be identified because of the sensitive nature of the stadium issue, said a $30 million estimate for all of the improvements Lerner has mentioned is "not unrealistic." The upgrade to the main scoreboard could cost as much as $7 million alone

If you wonder why I'm a cynic, that's why.

If you recall, that article and their sudden announcement about how charitable they are came right after Soriano had signed elsewhere and the first indications arose that they were going to drop payroll by $20+ million for the good of "The PLAN!" The improvements to the stadium were an easy thing to point to and say "Hey, this is about tomorrow; these improvements will help us long into the future."

Yet they're not done, and instead, the Lerners are taking the city to arbitration for a few million dollars of equipment.

Yes, as the article admits, there's still time. But this is a persistent pattern -- most of them small things like ticket delivery, concessions contracts, etc -- that show a fundamental mismatch between what the team is saying and what the team's doing.

And that's not even mentioning McGeary or Smoker. Tick tock. Tick tock.

Oh, and while you won't see me bitching about the Post covering the O's, why does the Times repeatedly kick the Post's ass on these things? Every now and then Thomas Heath graces us with a pseudo-Marxist rant about how the stadium is harming the District's women and children, but they never report on these important types of things. They really need a full time sports business reporter. Of course having a columnist who actually writes about baseball would be a good thing, too. It's only been a month.

To be fair, the Post does have weekly stadium updates, which are very informative.