Yahoo! News - Washington Mayor: Baseball Deal Nearly Dead
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The deal to bring baseball back to Washington, D.C, was described by Mayor Anthony Williams as close to dead Wednesday after the City Council changed the plan to require private financing, a move Major League Baseball (MLB) called unacceptable.

The City Council late Tuesday approved a financing plan for a new waterfront stadium to host what would become the Washington Nationals team, but added a requirement the mayor find private financing to cover half the construction costs.

Taking out infrastructure and investment fund costs associated with the $1 billion project, the total amount needed in private financing for the stadium's construction would be about $140 million, Councilman Jack Evans said.

Without private financing in place by June no stadium would be built under the amendment proposed by Council Chairwoman Linda Cropp and approved by the council.

You'd think that they would have had all of this settled before they decided to move the team there. Oh well, I'm sure Vegas will take 'em.