Update Again Again: OPACY lease officially official, done and approved, for real this time

[DenaOsHon]

25 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The terms of this lease make me think JA won’t be selling any time soon.

Probably right but he may take on a minority investor to get some cash for team. They also have to pay out a ton of money to Nats. 

[interloper]

30 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The terms of this lease make me think JA won’t be selling any time soon.

Yep

[Roll Tide]

4 minutes ago, DenaOsHon said:

Probably right but he may take on a minority investor to get some cash for team. They also have to pay out a ton of money to Nats. 

I’m betting that money has been sitting in a bank somewhere.

[Frobby]

Just now, Roll Tide said:

I’m betting that money has been sitting in a bank somewhere.

The Nats’ money?   I’m sure MASN has been paying the Nats something for the rights fees all along.  That was true for the 2012-16 period and I’m sure it’s true now.  And yes, I expect that money has been held in reserve.  

[NCRaven]

38 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The terms of this lease make me think JA won’t be selling any time soon.

That’s what he’s been saying all along.

[ThisIsBirdland]

32 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The terms of this lease make me think JA won’t be selling any time soon.

I think I read it differently. Angelos settled both here and on the MASN front at the same time basically. The MASN situation was probably not too complicated once the 2012-2016 years were settled, but still, we’re talking about a very competitive, litigation minded individual making pretty significant concessions at the same time. They happen to be concessions on issues that would almost certainly need to be resolved to facilitate a sale.

I think if he were looking to maintain long term ownership he would have sought to hold the terms of last week’s agreement or enter into a 1 year extension to continue negotiations from a more aggressive position. Instead, this feels like the acknowledgment that this was the most he was going to get and that he’s maybe settled on whatever sale price this will bring him.

A man can dream at least. 

[DenaOsHon]

28 minutes ago, Frobby said:

The Nats’ money?   I’m sure MASN has been paying the Nats something for the rights fees all along.  That was true for the 2012-16 period and I’m sure it’s true now.  And yes, I expect that money has been held in reserve.  

I guess I am skeptical that MASN made that much from 17-21 given COVID and the increase in cord cutters. Did the MLB committee who determined the rights fees for Nats base it off what MASN made during that time? What if MASN made less? 

[Frobby]

4 minutes ago, DenaOsHon said:

I guess I am skeptical that MASN made that much from 17-21 given COVID and the increase in cord cutters. Did the MLB committee who determined the rights fees for Nats base it off what MASN made during that time? What if MASN made less? 

Read this.

[TonySoprano]

Quote

unlike in the prior agreement — the club would need to submit a master plan. That plan, in effect a blueprint for the property, would have to be approved by the stadium authority and Board of Public Works.

Actually have a plan?  What a concept.  That should have been a given from the very beginning.   Instead they're giving Angelos 4 years to haggle even more ?!!   Peter had to rescue the deal to move Spring Training to Sarasota after putting John in charge.    How about competing bids?    Give the job to someone who actually knows what they're doing and has done it before.

Here we are 11 weeks after the two prima donnas had to put themselves in the spotlight ahead of the team's first division title in 9 years.  Everything about this irritates the hell out of me.

[ThisIsBirdland]

1 minute ago, TonySoprano said:

Actually have a plan?  What a concept.  That should have been a given from the very beginning.   Instead they're giving Angelos 4 years to haggle even more ?!!   Peter had to rescue the deal to move Spring Training to Sarasota after putting John in charge.    How about competing bids?    Give the job to someone who actually knows what they're doing and has done it before.

Here we are 11 weeks after the two prima donnas had to put themselves in the spotlight ahead of the team's first division title in 9 years.  Everything about this irritates the hell out of me.

Lighten up, Francis.

They were never going to come up with a comprehensive, reviewed and approved development plan before this deadline. Better to give it the proper time and let the state negotiate and perform oversight as opposed to just giving it to Angelos.

And if they can’t reach a deal, is Angelos just going to sit there and sulk for 11 years, and incur the costs of the no-relocation clause to move after? If he still owns then, he’ll probably once again be incentivized to just get the best deal that he can and take the win.

This deal really appears to have cleaned up so much of what was problematic in last week’s agreement. It’s pretty sad they had to haggle over this for a whole year when this deal was probably on the table from the state the whole time.

I do wonder if the State Legislature assumes Moore was trying to benefit Angelos by pushing through the prior deal, or if they just assume he was poorly negotiating. Either way, I think they saved him major headaches with taxpayers by forcing everyone back to the table and drawing red lines that were seemingly followed. 

[Going Underground]

26 minutes ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

Lighten up, Francis.

They were never going to come up with a comprehensive, reviewed and approved development plan before this deadline. Better to give it the proper time and let the state negotiate and perform oversight as opposed to just giving it to Angelos.

And if they can’t reach a deal, is Angelos just going to sit there and sulk for 11 years, and incur the costs of the no-relocation clause to move after? If he still owns then, he’ll probably once again be incentivized to just get the best deal that he can and take the win.

This deal really appears to have cleaned up so much of what was problematic in last week’s agreement. It’s pretty sad they had to haggle over this for a whole year when this deal was probably on the table from the state the whole time.

I do wonder if the State Legislature assumes Moore was trying to benefit Angelos by pushing through the prior deal, or if they just assume he was poorly negotiating. Either way, I think they saved him major headaches with taxpayers by forcing everyone back to the table and drawing red lines that were seemingly followed. 

I think having a $ 794 million dollar deficit for next year or so and then giving a billionaire a sweetheart deal is not a good look.I could be wrong but maybe not. 

[TonySoprano]

55 minutes ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

Lighten up, Francis.

They were never going to come up with a comprehensive, reviewed and approved development plan before this deadline. Better to give it the proper time and let the state negotiate and perform oversight as opposed to just giving it to Angelos.

If Ferguson didn't cry foul the Governor was going to do just that.   Angelos is so far out of his depth, no experience in any of this, but give Angelos millions in  taxpayer money to do what?   Comprehensive plan?  Why wasn't there a plan of any kind beyond gee look what Atlanta did?   

[Roll Tide]

2 hours ago, NCRaven said:

That’s what he’s been saying all along.

Yeah … but why would the report come out that Rubenstein is in negotiations if they weren’t.

And the Angelo’s’ men are a bunch of liars. 

[DenaOsHon]

6 hours ago, Frobby said:

Read this.

Thank you! Super helpful. 

[drjohnnyfever1]

On 12/15/2023 at 6:11 PM, TonySoprano said:

Actually have a plan?  What a concept.  That should have been a given from the very beginning.   Instead they're giving Angelos 4 years to haggle even more ?!!   Peter had to rescue the deal to move Spring Training to Sarasota after putting John in charge.    How about competing bids?    Give the job to someone who actually knows what they're doing and has done it before.

Here we are 11 weeks after the two prima donnas had to put themselves in the spotlight ahead of the team's first division title in 9 years.  Everything about this irritates the hell out of me.

 

On 12/15/2023 at 6:52 PM, Going Underground said:

I think having a $ 794 million dollar deficit for next year or so and then giving a billionaire a sweetheart deal is not a good look.I could be wrong but maybe not. 

 

On 12/15/2023 at 7:28 PM, TonySoprano said:

If Ferguson didn't cry foul the Governor was going to do just that.   Angelos is so far out of his depth, no experience in any of this, but give Angelos millions in  taxpayer money to do what?   Comprehensive plan?  Why wasn't there a plan of any kind beyond gee look what Atlanta did?   

 

Above is how I see it too.  These two guys got caught out and called out.  The Gov wanted some positive TV and JA needed it after all the crying poor.  What rings even more foul to me is that JA was crying poor and telling fans there was no money to do virtually anything with the club whilst he was lobbying for 99 years of control/ownership of an area controlled by the MSA to enrich himself.  Poor?  Laughable!

The facts that JA cut off negotiations with the State when things weren't going his way, talked to/ dealt with the heir-apparent to the State House, maybe even before the election about the now abandoned sweetheart deal - but definitely before the transition, and then glad-handed with the Gov 6 months later on their victory lap in the midst of the Playoff is just very stinky to me.  But that's not a new feeling when it comes to anything surrounding the Angelosii.

The Gov was not happy the other day standing in front of a small press group having to make a statement about this situation.  It's maybe the only time where he hasn't been his bouncy, enthusiastic self; in fact, peeved would be a more adequate description in that instance.  I can't imagine he was very happy with JA in that moment.

Hopefully the few years of pause will allow a bit of better planning.  But, truthfully, I'm shocked that THAT deal got agreed to in the first place and that it made it to the doorstep of reality. 

As for new ownership... That's probably on hold too - sadly.