One thing that can be seen between the lines in the stories about the lease agreement is the apparent recognition by all sides that the
new baseball stadium can't be ready by the 2008 season. At least the new lease agreement seems to do away with penalties on the city for not delivering the stadium by the original agreement date, and sets up a payment requirement for leasing RFK in 2008. (Hat tip for this tea-leaf reading to the Nats fans at
BallparkGuys.com and also the
District of Baseball blog.) And has enough groundwork been laid for MLB to go ahead and name a new owner? Lots to watch over the next few weeks, if we can stand it.