A powerful state legislator has offered public funding for a "Jack Kent Cooke Harbordome" if the Washington Redskins move to Camden Yards, but the team's owner says he isn't interested.
Del. Howard "Pete" Rawlings, a city Democrat and chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, sent Cooke a letter last Friday offering a "partnership" between the team owner and the Maryland Stadium Authority to build a domed stadium adjacent to Oriole Park.
Rawlings noted the setbacks suffered by both Baltimore's efforts to rejoin the NFL and Cooke's attempt to build a stadium in Laurel.
"By entering into a partnership, you and I could provide a project which far exceeds the expectations of our interests," Rawlings wrote. "Together we can afford to develop a facility larger and more comfortable than our individual resources would currently allow."
He offered to try to have the stadium named for the team owner, and suggested the Jack Kent Cooke Harbordome.
But Cooke, in a written response yesterday, said "the die is cast" for another site, presumably in Laurel. Cooke has rejected several invitations to build his stadium in Baltimore, saying he preferred to keep the facility closer to his fan base, centered in Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs.
"You make a very persuasive case, I must admit," Cooke wrote back, saying he has "virtually committed" to another location central to the Baltimore-Washington corridor.
Rawlings said he was not discouraged by the response, and did not consider it a "flat turndown" or the last word on the matter.
"He's about had the same kind of luck we've had, that's why this would be a good marriage," Rawlings said.
Rawlings' committee will consider bills now under discussion to rescind the bonding authority established in 1987 for a football stadium. He said he had not made up his mind yet whether this is the right time to redirect those resources.
"I think at some point we are going to have to fish or cut bait," Rawlings said.
Cooke's efforts to build at Laurel have been blocked by Anne Arundel County, and he has said he would appeal while he explores other sites in the region. Washington Mayor Marion Barry has said he wants to keep the team in the District.
Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who is trying to bring an NFL team to the city over the objections of Cooke, said: "The Redskins are a Washington team and they should play in Washington."