Fastball Fans

Based on the Marlins’ attendance, I don’t know what a new ballpark will do for their fan base, but good luck.

MIAMI — A key legal obstacle was removed Friday for a new downtown Florida Marlins stadium, and the team will now determine whether the ballpark can open for the 2011 season.

Marlins president David Samson said the months of delay caused by a lawsuit challenging the ballpark’s financing package might push the completion date to 2012.

“We’re evaluating the significance of that delay. I hope we will have an announcement here within a week,” Samson said.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri Beth Cohen issued formal, final orders ending a lawsuit filed by auto dealer Norman Braman against the proposal for several huge projects, including a 37,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium. Estimated to cost $515 million, the ballpark is to rise on the site of the now-demolished Orange Bowl in Little Havana.

The legal fight may yet continue, but Braman will have to persuade an appeals court that Cohen was wrong to rule against him on all counts.

“It’s likely that he’s going to pursue an appeal,” said Braman’s lawyer, Paul Huck Jr.

The stadium is a major piece of a $3 billion public works package that includes a tunnel for the Port of Miami, a museums park and a downtown trolley line.

Braman, a philanthropist, art collector and former owner of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, argued the project financing was an unconstitutional diversion of money intended to cure urban blight and should have been submitted to voters for approval.

The Marlins have played at Dolphin Stadium — home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins — since their inception in 1993 but have pushed for years for a baseball-only home, threatening at times to move to another city if one wasn’t built. The Marlins regularly rank last in attendance among 30 major league teams, averaging 16,688 this year, but won World Series titles in 1997 and 2003.

I don’t know many millions of dollars the new ball park will cost, but you have to consider the circumstances — could a team that finished above .500 and only drew north of 16K per game — really benefit from it?

Who knows. I think the problem with that franchise is that needs some stability with players, and also a cultural shift of the sports world down there.

I don’t know what else could save the Marlins right now.