Miami Mayor: 'Residents of Miami were raped' by Marlins ballpark deal
In a new Sports Illustrated story on the deal Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria made with the city to finance a new stadium, Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado compared the ballpark deal to rape
Miami Mayor: 'Residents of Miami were raped' by Marlins ballpark deal
Matt Mullin, Sports Editor
There are some words that aren't to be used lightly, and "rape" is near the top of that list.
But in a new Sports Illustrated story on the deal Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria made with the city to finance a new stadium, Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado compared the ballpark deal to rape:
Tomas Regalado, who hadn’t seen the article until CBS4 showed it to him, is quoted throughout including a line where he says “Miami has a history of bad deals, but I would rate this Number 1. The residents of Miami were raped. Completely.”
When asked about the quote, Regalado stood by it.
“I think it’s the truth. I think it was a very bad deal,” he said.
Sure, the residents of Miami got a raw deal, especially when you consider Loria's promise to maintain a $100-million payroll if a new stadium was built. After a fire-sale near the end of the 2012 season, the Marlins' current payroll is second-lowest in baseball at $32 million.
I'm no math major, but 32 is way less than 100.
Here's video of Regalado defending his stance:
Who honestly didn't that coming? Oh well, you "voted" for it, Miami! A retractable roof stadium in Little Havana for a marginally supported (at best) beisbol team was considered more important than teachers' salaries in the 48th ranked state for education in the Union.
In the words of the late, great Jim Mandich: AAAAAaaaalllllllllllllllllll RIiiiiiGHT MIAAAAAAAAAAAAMIIIIIIII!— Florida Frank- ...they should have listened to Norman Braman....yes...THAT Norman Braman...— flank steak
- The real mistake made by the City of Miami was a failure to include a clause in the stadium agreement that if payroll falls below $100,000,000 during a five year window from the completion of stadium construction, then ownership has to reimburse the city the difference between $100,000,000 and the current payroll. If ownership would not agree to that then the City of Miami should have walked away.— SuperDuperKuperDude
- That's a nice thought, but even with a legit team this is a bad deal. Miami has all the pain and Loria gets all the gain. The city should not be on the hook for $2.4 billion, with a B, whether the team is awful or great. This was all corruption and stupidity, and that's not even mentioning Loria's secret accounting which should have him in jail. I am just glad it is limited to Miami-Dade and not my county. I would have been just as happy to see the Loria to follow through on his threats to move them to Vegas. — the-elguapo
- This is pretty high on the "what idiot couldn't have seen this coming?" list. Unfortunately we have equally stupid politicians and low-information voters in Philadelphia as they do down in South Florida.— Tartan69
- why did baseball ever give this DBag another baseball team; he and in son-inlaw David Samson are nothing but POS's— bag-of-donuts
- tartan, at least our stadiums are full and bring in a bundle to the city.— mike l
- ...not quite...the city doesn't make out nearly as well as it did when the teams played at the Vet...the teams make most of if not all of the money on parking and concessions...meanwhile the city's broke and raising taxes on working people...
- Loria raped Montreal, now Miami.
What city's next in line?— ald - This type of behavior will make it harder for other owners to rip off other cities. One can only hope.— Bruce in NM
- Good old Republican business tactics. Get the public to fund your ventures. Yay!— john_dallas_bowers
- Have you ever met an honest art dealer? Enough said...— Dave Clemens
- Typical Play-2-Play Republicans padding their deep pockets. The party of "profits and business", just look at Gov. Corbett i.e. (Lottery, LCB, Tolls, Education, etc...)!— APhillyDump
The media, once again, trying to create controversy when there is none.
I have no problem with what Tomas Regalado said.
