Today's lease stories: from The Post, "Stadium Pact To Be Revised For Financing," and from the WashTimes, "Council fails to reach deal on stadium lease." No one is leaping up and down with joy about the new agreement, and while Mayor Bow Tie says he'll get the documentation about the construction agreement to the council by Friday, council members appear to be suspicious of any promises that aren't backed up with legally binding documents, so a Feb. 7 vote is looking kind of iffy. UPDATE: And here is the AP story on the mayor's comments during his weekly briefing today. Guess what? He's optimistic! UPDATE, 9:50 pm: NBC 4 says that Mayor Tony is getting tired of it all, and saying that it's time to put up or shut up, and vote on the agreeement: "I think it's now time to have a vote. I do not have any intention whatsoever this time of withdrawing the legislation. I think we just need to have a vote. And if you want baseball, this is what we have."

The February issue of the Hill Rag has a large feature story ("Trading a Queer Home for Home Plate") about the gay-oriented clubs and businesses along O Street in the footprint of the new baseball stadium. It traces the history of the neighborhood, the people who have congregated there, and what the future may be for the clubs as they try to find new homes.

If you just can't get enough of the wrangling over the stadium lease and construction agreements, David Catania has posted the proposed lease agreement, summaries of the agreement itself as well as of recent amendments, the proposed construction administration agreement, the non-relocation agreement, and the mediation team's letter to Linda Cropp. (Hat tip to Capitol Punishment.)

From the AP: "Members of the D-C Council will learn more about the latest proposed lease agreement with Major League Baseball this afternoon. The 13 council members have been invited to a closed door briefing where those who helped negotiate the deal will answer questions. [...] Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi is also expected to attend. He has questions about changes that could affect the sale of bonds needed to finance the new stadium." The session is scheduled for 1:00-4:00 pm. Speaking of Mr. Gandhi, this morning's WashTimes has a piece on Gandhi's reservations on the proposed financing, and the WashPost editorial board tells the mayor and council to listen to what the CFO says.

One thing that can be seen between the lines in the stories about the lease agreement is the apparent recognition by all sides that the new baseball stadium can't be ready by the 2008 season. At least the new lease agreement seems to do away with penalties on the city for not delivering the stadium by the original agreement date, and sets up a payment requirement for leasing RFK in 2008. (Hat tip for this tea-leaf reading to the Nats fans at BallparkGuys.com and also the District of Baseball blog.) And has enough groundwork been laid for MLB to go ahead and name a new owner? Lots to watch over the next few weeks, if we can stand it.

Starting a new clean entry... The Post's print version of the lease agreement story is now available, "Baseball Consents To Revised Lease Deal", which gives both the good news and the bad news in the lede: "District leaders reached an agreement on a revised stadium lease with Major League Baseball yesterday that includes a commitment from baseball for a $3.5 million youth academy but fell short of fully answering the concerns of some key D.C. Council members." And, just to add to the peppyness: "Meanwhile, some changes to the lease drew strong objections from Natwar M. Gandhi, the city's chief financial officer. [...] Gandhi noted that the new document deleted a monetary reserve account that Wall Street bond raters had requested. Gandhi is seeking investment-grade bonds for the stadium project to get a lower interest rate for the city." And, while quoted as carping earlier in the story, two council members seem to grudgingly admit that there's been progress: "Brown and Gray acknowledged that the city has won some significant concessions. In addition to the academy, which would teach children about baseball and provide academic tutoring, the city would get 2,000 additional free tickets for disadvantaged youth." And finally, because nothing can ever be easy: "Williams promised to send more documentation about capping stadium costs in a separate document called the Construction Administration Agreement, Brown and Gray said. That agreement, which is expected to specify how the construction companies contracted by the city would build the stadium, will be voted on separately by the council, setting up the possibility of another tough political fight for the mayor." UPDATE: The WashTimes story is similar, with explanations of the agreements between the city and MLB.

WTOP is reporting that the city and Major League Baseball have reached agreement on negotiations over the stadium lease agreement. It has been decided to not use the Deutsche Bank private financing agreement, and to instead go with traditional financing. MLB has also agreed to develop a youth baseball facility, to increase the number of free tickets given to disadvantaged children, and to lease RFK in 2008 if the stadium is not completed in time. There's also a comment about the city and the team splitting profits on land sold for development, which sounds kind of odd, will wait to hear an explanation of that.

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