The words of Selig and DuPuy last night pretty much re-verifies what I said over a year ago, that it's never really been a lack of funding for a stadium that's holding up this project (the Marlins in most of the various deals made with various governments have received sufficient funding necessary to start building a stadium) but it's that extra splash of dough, usually represented by that $60 million figure constantly sought after from the state, that is 'required' by baseball and the Marlins to help pay for that retractable roof that they desire to have floating over their new stadium. Without that 'requirement' they could have started building on a number of occasions.
The lack of inspirational innovation in this respect is disheartening. Baseball has been played professionally without a roof in this town for many years before MLB arrived (overhangs, yes, but no overall roof). The Devil Rays have a roof in similar climate and still draw less than we do. 3 million people attended games at Joe Robbie Stadium during the 1993 (EDIT)season and probably a similar amount would have showed up in 1994 if the strike didn't destroy the first and greatest bit of momentum that the Marlins ever had - as far as I recall our climate was much the same (EDIT)then as it is now. Minnesota is building a roof-less heated ballpark to replace their roofed home - will the heaters stop possible snow-outs?
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