Thought this may be interesting... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56818-2002Nov14.html By Craig Timberg and Mark Asher Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, November 15, 2002; Page B01 Building a baseball stadium in Washington would cost $342 million to $542 million, depending on which of five sites was ultimately chosen, according to a report that city sports officials sent to Major League Baseball this week. The 70-page report portrays a prosperous, baseball-hungry city ready to support a team in a 41,000-seat stadium with easy access to Metro and regional highways and views of the U.S. Capitol or Washington Monument. ...snip... But Robert L. Johnson, head of a rival group bidding for a team, said, "Wow!" upon hearing the new estimates and suggested that the city must consider a far heavier investment of public dollars if it wants a team. Williams has pledged as much as $200 million in public funding for a stadium.
You can automatically pump those costs 110% to 120% -- they never get built at original estimated cost. GM
Johnson later decided, "Forget a new baseball stadium. We can't ask the public to put up $200 million of their own dollars for this. It just makes much more sense for me to spend only $70 million and build a stadium for DC United instead."