It strikes me as a bit odd that I’m posting my Baseball Prospectus blog item on the Marlins’ stadium deal and not my much more in-depth Field of Schemes item, but I don’t make the rules here — oh wait, yes I do. Well, anyway, one links to the other, so you’re welcome to read ’em both:

It’s official: After more government hearings than you can shake a fungo bat at, the Miami-Dade County Commission gave final approval yesterday to the Marlins‘ plan for a $634 million stadium on the former site of the Orange Bowl. Assuming bonds can be sold by July — never a sure thing in our new economic reality — construction will begin this summer, with the team’s big bagel slicer opening in 2012, at which point the team, as part of the deal, will become transmogrified into the Miami Marlins… [read more]