http://florida.marlins.mlb.com...a&fext=.jsp&c_id=fla

01/06/09 1:44 PM EST
Vote forthcoming on Marlins' new home
If approved, Florida could announce stadium deal on Jan. 22

By Joe Frisaro / MLB.com

MIAMI -- For the holidays, Marlins officials worked diligently on the remaining documents that must be approved before their new ballpark becomes a reality.

"We have literally spent the last 10 days, every day, with the county and the city, dotting the I's and crossing the T's on hundreds of pages of documents in anticipation of a vote later in January," team president David Samson said.

The project is closer than ever to being finalized, and this month may finally put to rest the team's efforts for more than a decade to finally have its stadium deal done.

Five documents still must be agreed upon by commissioners from the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County. The vote is expected on Jan. 22. If all goes according to script, that could be the day the team's retractable-roof park will become official.

Shortly after that, the club likely will release renderings of what the park will look like.

The proposed 37,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium is scheduled to open in 2012 on the Orange Bowl grounds in the Little Havana section of Miami.

The target date to break ground is May, but there is a 30-day window that it can fall under -- between May 15-June 15.

The five documents that commissioners will address are: City/parking agreement; operating agreement; construction/administration agreement; non-relocation agreement; and the assurance agreement, where all parties are bound by all agreements.

The Marlins' negotiations are being led by Derek Jackson, the team's general counsel; Wayne Katz, a top-tier attorney from Proskauer Rose LLP; Joel Mael, the team's vice chairman; and Michel Bussiere, the club's executive vice president and chief financial officer.

"Knowing that the commissioners of the city and county are going to be looking at these documents and voting on the future of baseball in South Florida, we have paid very close attention to detail as we attempt to provide what we know will be a tremendous economic stimulus to South Florida," Samson said.

The holidays didn't slow down talks. In fact, they picked up.

In the past two weeks, meetings were held on Christmas Eve, although all sides took a break on Christmas. On New Year's Eve, negotiations lasted until 9:30 p.m. ET, and discussions on the phone took place on New Year's Day. The sides were back in meeting rooms on Friday, and the process has continued.

Samson joked: "It's just been constant -- to the point where security in the county building downtown was ready to give us employee badges."

The efforts, he said, are paying off.

"In the last 10 days, there has been more progress than at any time in a long while," Samson said. "The next two weeks are going to be spent speaking to every commissioner, and we're going to go through the entire set of documents with them so that they can be prepared to vote in the next couple weeks."

Time is essential to get the deal done in order to stay on the Marlins' construction schedule. Another matter that still must be resolved is finding a place for the team to play in 2011.

The club's lease with Dolphin Stadium expires after the 2010 season. Initially, the Marlins were hopeful to be in their own park in 2011. But that date was ruled out because of the delay caused by a lawsuit from South Florida auto dealer Norman Braman, who challenged some of the financing of the project.

Even though the lawsuit has been settled in the Marlins' favor, the months the trial took place caused a one-year setback.

The Marlins are hopeful that they can sign a one-year extension to remain at Dolphin Stadium in 2011.

The team did discuss that possibility a few months ago with Stephen Ross, the Dolphins' co-owner. But with the Dolphins reaching the NFL playoffs and the Marlins in negotiations with the city and county, those talks have been on the back burner.

"There has been nothing further on that," Samson said of the extension. "Stephen has been engaged with the Dolphins and the playoffs."

Samson expects to pick up conversations with Ross after the commissioners vote on the final documents.