I blogged yesterday about Franklin Haney offering to pay for surplus costs in relation to the new stadium if he is chosen as owner of the team, right?
Today’s news is that he wants to pay for Metrorail to Dulles and the toll road. Apparently he has yet another company name, “Dulles Express”, who would pay for improvements and fund the Metro extension in exchange for toll money. This doesn’t seem to be a guy who throws money away foolishly (or why would he apparently have so much of it?), so I’m guessing this would be a lucrative deal in the long run with those toll fares. I wonder how much the Commonwealth loses in potential revenue from such a deal only to get out of immediate costs of improvements?
I think I need to grab Mr. Haney’s attention. If he wants to show off his financial power and throw money about “for the good of the area” (remember the matching $600K at the Diamond Gala as well), I have a lighthouse that needs about a cool half mill restoration – which should be a drop in the bucket, is tax deductible, and a local community charity which will hasten opening it to public tours and educational opportunities for children! Dreaming? Ok, fine.
In other news, I’m sure you’ve all heard Bowden was extended through April and began making some moves yesterday. It sounds like he’s definitely not keeping Frank Robinson on staff and leaving that decision entirely up to the new owners. The next meeting of the MLB owners is November 16-17 at which time they plan to take a vote (hopefully) on the chosen owner for the Nationals, so the waiting could be ending in the next 2-3 weeks. I found the Distinguished Senators blog on this subject (among others) particularly entertaining this morning.