Author Topic: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium  (Read 6590 times)

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Offline tomterp

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P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Topic Start: January 18, 2008, 05:26:24 PM »
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Friday, January 18, 2008
Potomac Nats near deal with county for stadium
Washington Business Journal - by Joe Coombs Senior Staff Reporter

When Prince William County could not find funds for a new Potomac Nationals stadium in 2007, the team's owner didn't bat an eye.

With Minor League Baseball's recent surge in popularity and increased interest from corporations that want to slap their names on ballparks around the country, Art Sliber had enough ammunition. Now, Sliber, who has owned the team for 19 years, is close to working out a deal with the county. He would lease land from Prince William and pay for a $25 million stadium, with about half the costs secured through a naming-rights arrangement.

"We have an inventory of smaller sponsorship deals that is sold out every single year," said Sliber, a Florida resident. "As attendance has soared in Minor League Baseball, new parks are also being built everywhere. The timing is right."

After Prince William and Sliber reach an agreement, work can begin on the Potomac Nationals' new stadium, a proposed 6,500-seat facility that would be built next to the existing park in Woodbridge. Sliber wants to be ready for opening day 2009, but if that doesn't occur, the team will continue to play at its current park until the new one is finished.


This is all the article available on-line to non-subscribers, but here are some additonal points from the newspaper article:

-P-Nats have hired Philly based Front Row Marketing Serivces to find and negotiate a stadium naming rights deal.
-The banking industry is a leading source of such deals recently.
-Team Owner Art Sliber "hopes to snare a 10-year, $12m deal, and he will pay for the balance of the stadium's construction costs."
Quote
-"We're going to have a Wiffle ball field for kids.  We'll have [lawn] seats for people who just want to bring a chair," Silber said.  "We're going to design it with the potential to add onto the upper deck, too.  We can't wait to get started."

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/01/21/story8.html




natsfan1a

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #1: January 18, 2008, 05:36:00 PM »
8)

Offline CALSGR8

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #2: January 18, 2008, 05:52:10 PM »
Cool!  Since Silber is paying for most of it, maybe the Diamond can be renovated.  At least they don't have to think about 2 minor league stadiums to fund!   :roll:

natsfan1a

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #3: January 18, 2008, 05:53:46 PM »
We should have a P-Nats tailgate next year. Edit: I mean this year, once the season starts. Oh, you know what I mean...

Offline ronnynat

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #4: January 18, 2008, 06:03:58 PM »
thank god...finally!

Offline CALSGR8

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #5: January 18, 2008, 06:13:48 PM »
We should have a P-Nats tailgate next year. Edit: I mean this year, once the season starts. Oh, you know what I mean...

Great Idea!

natsfan1a

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #6: January 18, 2008, 06:23:08 PM »
We'll need to coordinate with our event planners extraordinaire!

Offline CALSGR8

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #7: January 18, 2008, 06:52:35 PM »

natsfan1a

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #8: January 18, 2008, 07:09:27 PM »
Thanks. I'd guess that a weekend day game would be best for most people, as with past tailgates? That would help us narrow down potential dates, too.

Edit: For future planning reference, looks like the P-Nats have home day games on April 13 and 20, May 4 and 25, and June 1 and 8. All of those are at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Also, they have day games (2 p.m.) at Frederick on Saturday and Sunday April 26 and 27.

Looks like the Washington Nationals are away on only two of those dates: April 20 and June 1.  :|

Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #9: January 18, 2008, 08:45:47 PM »
Is the new stadium going to be near the old one?

Offline sportsfan882

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #10: January 18, 2008, 09:05:08 PM »
Is the new stadium going to be near the old one?
Yes.

Quote
After Prince William and Sliber reach an agreement, work can begin on the Potomac Nationals' new stadium, a proposed 6,500-seat facility that would be built next to the existing park in Woodbridge. Sliber wants to be ready for opening day 2009, but if that doesn't occur, the team will continue to play at its current park until the new one is finished.

Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #11: January 18, 2008, 09:22:22 PM »
Sorry, I just skimmed the article real fast.  Guess I didn't catch it.

Sweet.  My folks live 20 minutes away from the P-Nats so I'm definitely going to have to catch a lot more games when I come home to visit.

Offline natsdad

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #12: January 21, 2008, 08:55:42 PM »
Congratulations to Art Silber and his family for outlasting PWC and perhaps being able to finance the stadium with little or no financial support from them. Good Luck!

Offline Senators2005

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #13: January 27, 2008, 05:09:17 PM »
This is fantastic news for me since I live about 3 miles from the ballpark.  This has sealed the deal for my decision to concentrate most of my emphasis on the P-Nats for my blog during the upcoming season.


Offline Natskins

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #14: March 03, 2008, 02:33:28 PM »
Does this mean they'll go back to being called "Prince William" instead of "Potomac"? Potomac is in Maryland...not sure why they'd be called Potomac in the first place?

Offline CALSGR8

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #15: March 03, 2008, 02:43:33 PM »
Yes, Potomac is in Maryland but the River goes further than Maryland.

He called it Potomac because at first he wanted the stadium closer to Sprinfield or elsewhere.  So he called the team Potomac because it encompasses a larger area of fans than just Prince William.

Offline PANatsFan

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #16: March 03, 2008, 03:03:01 PM »
Does this mean they'll go back to being called "Prince William" instead of "Potomac"? Potomac is in Maryland...not sure why they'd be called Potomac in the first place?

I remember the Prince William Yankees . . .

Offline tomterp

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #17: March 03, 2008, 04:02:39 PM »
I remember the Prince William Yankees . . .

Pirates, too.

Offline ronnynat

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #18: March 03, 2008, 04:04:53 PM »
Pirates, too.

Bonds was on that team, right?

Online blue911

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #19: March 03, 2008, 04:07:03 PM »
The Dukes at Cora Kelly

Offline Natskins

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #20: March 03, 2008, 04:12:34 PM »
Yes, Potomac is in Maryland but the River goes further than Maryland.

He called it Potomac because at first he wanted the stadium closer to Sprinfield or elsewhere.  So he called the team Potomac because it encompasses a larger area of fans than just Prince William.
Right, but I'm saying now that the stadium officially will be built in Woodbridge, why not go back to calling the team Prince William?

Personally, I think making the river the team's geographic reference is kind of silly, but now that they are officially staying in Prince William, this would be a good time to go back to calling them Prince William...

Offline CALSGR8

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #21: March 03, 2008, 04:15:16 PM »
Because they want to appeal to a broader fan base then just Prince William County

Brief History Off the top of my head.  Forget when they started using Potomac instead of Prince William (PW)

Alexandria Dukes - Seattle/Pirates
Prince William - Pirates - Pittsburgh - Bonds
PW - Yankees - NY - Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada,
PW - Cannons - NY Yankees/Chicago White Sox - Magglio Ordonez
PW - Cannons - St. Louis Cards -
Potomac - Cannons - St. Louis - Rick Ankiel (Pujols may have come thru here but not for long)
Potomac - Cannons - Reds
Potomac - Nationals

I'd have to check the Potomac Nationals Website to research the teams.  I may have St. Louis and Cincinnati turned around.  Not sure.

Corrected with Sens 2005 comments

Online blue911

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #22: March 03, 2008, 04:22:26 PM »
You forgot that Sammy Khalifa played for Alexandria :rant:

Offline Natskins

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #23: March 03, 2008, 04:23:46 PM »
Because they want to appeal to a broader fan base then just Prince William County
I understand what you're saying, but I still think it's lame.

I recall the owner changing from "Prince William" to "Potomac" when he got ticked off that he couldn't get cooperation on building a new stadium, so changing the name to Potomac was part of his threat to leave the Woodbridge area. But that's not an issue anymore now that the stadium is going to be built in Woodbridge.

No big deal, I just think it's kinda lame. Sort of like calling the Denver Broncos the Rocky Mountain Broncos or something.

Offline CALSGR8

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Re: P-Nats near deal with county for new stadium
« Reply #24: March 03, 2008, 04:26:14 PM »
A better comparison is the

LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM  :stupid: :doh: :spaz: