Cropp, baseball refuse to budge

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D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp yesterday said she will not reopen legislation next week requiring the District to include private funds to build a ballpark in Southeast, effectively killing the deal negotiated between Mayor Anthony A. Williams and Major League Baseball.

"Right now, the legislation stands as it passed," Mrs. Cropp, at-large Democrat, said yesterday.

Baseball officials on Wednesday said the deal passed by the council was "wholly unacceptable" and did not back down yesterday.

"It's like a heart attack around here," said one baseball executive at MLB's New York headquarters. "This is definitely serious. If the District thinks we don't have other options or we're engaged in a game of chicken, they're sorely mistaken."

Baseball officials have begun offering refunds for buyers of season tickets and closed the temporary retail outlet for Washington Nationals merchandise in the parking lot of RFK Stadium.

The move followed the league's decision on Wednesday to suspend the Nationals' business and marketing operations indefinitely and cancel the planned unveiling of the team's new uniforms.

"There is a significant problem with the uncertainty of funding for the stadium," said John McHale Jr., MLB vice president of administration.

Mrs. Cropp said she hoped MLB officials would reconsider and accept the current legislation that includes a requirement for private financing. She said she hoped they would be willing to make a "good faith" gesture and extend the deadline beyond Dec. 31 for the District to come up with the financing for the stadium on the Anacostia River waterfront.

"If they are not, the legislation is what it is," she said at a press conference yesterday at the Wilson Building.

The showdown with baseball began when Mrs. Cropp tacked an amendment onto the stadium bill late Tuesday night that requires private investors to pay at least half of the hard stadium costs, about $140 million.