Late Morning Flash

DC COUNCIL APPROVES LEASE, CHANGES THE STRIKE ZONE. The DC Council passed the lease early this morning. As usual chaos ruled the day. Council members: Marion Barry, Carol Schwartz, Kwame Brown and Vincent Gray switched their votes from "Nay" to "Yeah," after a spending cap was agreed to.

MLB has not commented on the approved lease yet. They could be awaiting a third vote on the lease -- perhaps a DC specific strike zone is looming? Or a lease that demands a certain percentage of the Nats to be DC born and raised? Or a lease that imposes special penalties for double parking near the stadium except on Sundays? We are waiting on the edges of our seats.

According to the Washington Post, the deal calls for Major League Baseball:

• To cap spending just shy of $611M
• To pay start up costs for a new youth baseball academy;
• To give 10,000 free tickets a year to low-income DC residents;
• To make community appearances each year;
• To locate the business office for the Nats in DC;
• To look for DC workers;
• To hold MLB owners meeting in DC by 2008;
• To turn over land for development profits;
• To give the District two-thirds of the parking revenue on non-game days;
• To forgo the rent penalty if the stadium is not built on time;
• To issue a letter of credit to assure DC secures low-interest rates.