city council attempts to

"Washington's new baseball team shut down business and promotional operations indefinitely Wednesday as its move to the nation's capital teetered on the brink of collapse.
The decision by major league baseball followed the District of Columbia Council's decision Tuesday night to require private financing for at least half the cost of building a new stadium. The September agreement to move the Montreal Expos to Washington called for a ballpark fully financed by government money."

It appears that the Washington, D.C. city council, never considered to be particularly friendly to taxpayers, has apparently drawn the line over a plan to subsidize baseball millionaires and billionaires with something more than $530 million in taxpayer funds.

Not wanting to be considered too taxpayer friendly all of a sudden, the council has apparently expressed a willingness to waste only somthing more than $250 million to bring baseball to the city.

For its part, baseball has expressed its unhappiness by refusing to show the public the design of uniforms for the new team. Will the baseball establishment take its ball and play elsewhere? That apparently is based on whether they can extract more money from taxpayers in another jurisdiction.