NL Beast

You can’t make this stuff up.  Former Philadelphia Eagles owner and South Florida car dealer magnate Norman Braman is suing to stop a $3 billion Miami redevelopment plan that includes the construction of a new Marlins ballpark.  The judge has sent the case to trial, set for July.  Fish at Bat has more:

In all honesty, making it to this stage just means that there is some issues of contention worthy of a jury’s consideration so the situation isn’t worse then it was a few days ago, but it does allow a sideshow to go on while the city, county, and the Marlins continue with the design and development process.

Braman’s battle focuses on the ballpark, but is likely bigger than just that [local10.com]:

Braman’s attorney, Robert Martinez, claims the plan is in violation of Florida’s constitution and the money invested is not being used as it was intended.

“What we have alleged here and what the facts show, as far as we know them, is that the Marlins are getting a business operation delivered to them on a silver platter for business purposes,” said Martinez.

County attorneys said spending taxpayer money on a new stadium is perfectly legal.

As we have previously discussed, Braman was a terrible NFL owner who has a history of challenging these kinds of efforts (maybe sore that he never got his stadium in Philadelphia). Additionally, any of the transportation projects including the the 3 billion dollar funding may have long term impact on his ability to sell cars through his dealerships.

Let’s hope this circus ends soon.

Why can’t Braman ever just go away?  He couldn’t get a stadium in Philly, now he’s just a pissed off, cranky, old bum trying to screw the people of Florida, too.

-Greg Berlin