A new article from Bernardo Fallas (it's just not going to be the same without JJO) discusses some particulars of the financial impact of a new owner moving the Astros out of Houston:
The first article offers up the cost of moving the Astros out of Houston:
In moving to Minute Maid Park in 2000, the Astros, under current ownership, signed a 30-year lease agreement and a non-relocation agreement with the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, the entity that owns the 41,000-seat stadium...
...The cost? $150 million payable to the Sports Authority “as reasonable liquidated damages and not as a penalty,” according to wording of the agreement. That would be on top of the $650 million Astros owner Drayton McLane is asking for the team.
This cost would drop $25 million every five years, beginning in 2013.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
