night. but there is no finer way to spend and evening than at a ballpark. that is especially so at nationals park. i understand that when i sell people a particular, it is not just their money i am asking for. it is the four hours of their time. we are prepared to make sure that all of that time is easy, convenient, safe, clean and entertaining. and yes, most important among all those things, affordable. baseball has always been and remains the most affordable of all sporting entertainment alternatives. we are very proud of that. we are proud to have there are 5 tickets for every game all year. including the big games. we have thousands of $10 tickets because we want to remain accessible to the widest possible spectrum of our fans. .

>> we have this silly president's race that you'll know about. i cannot explain exactly why. it is the single most popular thing that we do. people are starting to know our formula. they know what we do in the middle of the fourth inning. they know, every night, in the middle of the game, that in the

seventh inning we will have got bless america and some other songs so that our usher's can get up and dance. you have a great time, the matter what the score is. we also spend an inordinate amount of money on the franklin this program of our ushers. i get complaints about many things. i get the fewest complaints about our ushers. at 99.9% of the comments that i get is that we have the friendliest ushers. that is not an accident. that is something that we will work hard when we are looking for someone to hire and we work harder when you're training them. i will tell you that last year, we opened with a lot more

alternatives and a lot better quality than we were able to provide at rfk. still, it was not good enough for us. we needed to do better. this year, will replace our former concession in with a renowned company. again, we have increased an expanded and improved. we have as many cool rains and we have budget items and health items and have the basics. we have it all. one thing that continues to disappoint me is that we are still not fast enough and not smooth enough and good enough in our transactions across the counter. i think we are good. we have gotten better since last year. we have many excellent employees. to many of them are not yet

excellent. that is what we're working on. we are still searching for the exact crowd. it is a tricky process. we have replaced a lot of them already because we have to get in the mix. that is our goal. that is a little bit about the game experience and the customer experience. i hope you are having fun any night you come to the ballpark. i thought that it would be better in terms of our neighborhood. the economy has hit all of us in so many ways. the development that we all thought we would see by now has not happened yet. we know what is going to happen but it has been delayed. when that happens, it will make the experience even better than is now. the last thing a lot to talk

about is the most important in many ways. the thing that is least talk about the reluctance talk about that. if you know anything about me, i never read. i like to talk to extemporaneously, but wanted to bring some materials to talk about because i did not want to leave anything out. these are for our neighbors and the citizens. this is also for maryland and virginia. we do a superb job of reaching out across the many ways that we can. we do hundreds of programs over the course of a year. most of you never hear about it. there is not a lot of media

interest this is throughout our area. first, let me talk about our business side. we have about 1000 people a night working during a game. two-thirds of our people are washington d.c. residents. two-thirds are hired in washington d.c.. we hold a number of job fairs. we try to hire right from our neighborhood. that is an important thing to us. we have succeeded at that. iwe work very hard at bringing n people who are citizens of the district. we think that is a very good thing. it has worked out great.

on the business side, things have been great. on the philanthropic side, i want to talk little about that. let's talk with the dream foundation. most of you do not know about it. i want to read a few of the things that we do. let's start with the three big programs that the dream foundation is involved with. first is the urban academy. it has been slow but we have not yet been able to secure the land we have identified. we have been working with chairman gray. we will be very proud to have the third baseball academy.

that is the first big project. the second is the juvenile diabetes wing. this is something that is terribly important to us. the centerpiece is that right there. the third big thing is our relationship with the boys and girls clubs of greater washington,. this is a charity of major league baseball. again, the three anchor programs are all for kids and for the sea. that is what we are spending all our time and fund-raising efforts to achieve the benefit. they also do so many little things. let me give you a small list.

it facilitates leadership in youth. we rebuild together. thurgood marshall academy and the partnership project for the that is just a partial list in addition to that, the stuff that we do with our players, in the neighborhood, it is extremely important to us. this year, we will give up between 6 feet -- 50,060 thousand tickets. -- 50,060 thousand tickets. -- 50,000 tickets and 60,000 tickets.

every month, we choose another cause to get behind. we're working with the american cancer society. i can go on and on. we literally do hundreds of programs. my hope -- my favorite is one we try to kickoff. we have really been able to wrap it up. this is one of the only things i'd have been able to do. we all love the high schools. of their baseball team is invited to come and spend the day at our expense. it is a great thrill for the kids and it is a great motivator for these kids. in addition, each d.c. public high school, for every child in that school, every child will get a ticket on that high

schools day at the ballpark. thousands of tickets, thousands of kids come. we're doing this at our expense. we are happy to do it. i hope it is increasing morale and i hope it is helping. we found ways to combine all of these things. this is going to be a lot more exciting when the record of the team gets better. everything feels better when the team on the field gets better. until then, we are not going to stop. we are going to continue to do our work. we will keep our customers happy. when this team, which is not very far from being not just

competitive, but contending, once they are here, everything else will be in place. i am looking forward to that day because i've learned something in that land that i have used here. when i was in atlanta, the one thing that i learned is that they have invented no new insults. i've been called everything before. so i am being called those things again. i have told this to people in their front office. i told this to our owners. an interesting thing that i remember from 2004 is that espn did a review of all the franchisees. about 120. they had many categories of rankings and one category was owners. how good are the owners? the no. 3 owner that year of

the 121 franchises, was the owner of the detroit team. alas, no. 115 out of 121 was the owner of the detroit tigers. what is fascinating to me is that those are the same guys. he owns both teams. i am not want to turn this over to people who want to ask me questions. be mindful that they had invented no new insults and if anyone wants to try, i am already. take your best shot. i am looking forward to anything you've got. >> >> what are the magic ingredients used by the boston red sox and the new york yankees that puts them in the top every year.

is money one of the elements? >> i believe that smart always beats rich. when you are smart and rich, that is a tough combination. both of those franchises are extremely rich and they are able to parlay that into continual success. they had a good streak going. last year, they did not meet -- make the post-season. but it was a good street. >> if my recollection is correct, and this is not my recollection, it took seven years. we're on the nationals now on

that time line? >> i wish i could give you a year. having said that, as i said during my remarks, once we get a consistent, mature and ready to go rotation of pitchers, anything is possible. once you get that, you do not have to wait one year or five years. i assure you, we will fill in any missing pieces that we need. >> well you were president of the atlanta braves, you put together one of the greatest pitching staff, consisting of great maddux, tom lange, others.

you have often stated that putting together a strong starting rotation is the key to the long term success of the ballclub. on your current roster, the seven highest-paid players are not pictures. for example, to give a $20 million contract to an outfielder who has led the league in strikeouts three times and it is, a defensive liability. are you going against the blueprint that made the braves the team of the '90s? >> no. i am following that blueprint. by the way, we are not the only team that is succeeding on the backs of a young group. let me say, really soon, you'll also see baltimore. in baseball, call it fair or unfair, you're younger players do not make much money. they are not eligible for salary

arbitration. if your building for young pitchers, you may have your very best players i think we are exactly doing as we should. >> as president of the washington nationals, how much blame the shoulder for the pore forms of the team? >> i shoulder all of it. as i said, i will take that responsibility because until we get it right, it is not right. i have to keep working until we do. but as i said, right now, i am the village idiot. aware that. we are in the face. there are no shortcuts. we have to develop them.

that was a little editorial. i think that the truth is that we had a line put out. we identified a need that could not be satisfied and we went very hard trying to do that. we identified this in the bullpen. but young pitchers, if they are successful, the girl on to be more expensive. in atlanta, we start off with a very low payroll because we have very young kids. of the group together and became expensive to gather and we kept

them together because we were winning. i can assure you that that is exactly what will happen as soon as we get this nucleus put together. who will succeed manning, and when? there were media reports last week. i have been asked about his status every day since the first week of the season. i never comment on the status of someone. i support everyone and every day and always will. i happen to be a big fan of his. i think he has the demeanor to be a long-term solution as a manager. i had this great talk around the batting cage last night. he is a genius manager of the boston red sox.

we were talking and i told him i remember when he was a dance as the manager of the phillies. i told him -- he said that he is still a dunce, he just has better players. >> it is so true. i have a always continue to support many. i cannot predict whether it is going to work. he has the potential to be a long-term manager here and that is my hope. >> your first round pick in the draft has been called the one, the savior of the nationals. >> mostly by his agent. >>[applause] >> less dramatically, his agent is well aware of this. the largest contract ever given to an amateur player was 10.5

million with the cubs. now people are throwing around numbers for strasbourg. our negotiations going? obviously, i never negotiate with the press. i will talk about steve. one of the really cool things, and this is something that i discussed. one of the cool things about the rotation that we're putting together is the four rookies and a 24 year-old. they are developing the same kind of atmosphere that we had in atlanta and. there was great closeness and great friendship, but the other side of that is great competitiveness. they want to outdo the other. they also want to pick the other one of. of that kind of cohesion really bodes well. that is exactly what we had in

atlanta. it is what we are developing. what is very cool about this is that he could not have a better place to grow and contribute. he could have no quicker path to a rotation and he will be a very good addition to this crop that we have here. they will be a great environment for him to fry than three >> according to boswell's column in this morning's washington post, the they have no equity in the team and no effort to raise payroll. how much to do -- will the payroll be increased and by how much? >> i forgot to being -- to bring my w-2. >> ownership is tricky. i will tell you that sports reporters have a tough time on business stories. so -- i am not being critical.

those of you that cover business, it is more complicated than what can fit into a sports story. there is no one more competitive and then the family. we're close to the finish line right now. no one wants to win more. but i assure you that we make a lot more money if we win. trust me on that. we will make a lot more money if we win and we're trying to do that as fast as we can. >> compare the braves in the late '80s to the nationals now. >> circumstances were different. the braves were in mature organization that needed complete reforming in the middle '80s.

here in washington, it was a new thing that had to be started up. i think that the teens are the same. -- of the teens -- the themes are the same. let's remember, we made an effort in 1990 to do the year before we started winning and it did not work out well. we did not sign our first rule free agent until 1993. we did that without free agents. i think we are on course to achieve the same kind of success. >> can you give us some thoughts on what can be done to improve and underperforming defense? >> yes, we need better defensive players. >> that is the story. i assure you, we have as many quality coaches as any team

does, specifically for the positions on the field. i will tell you, we work more with players on defense than anyone else. i will tell you that as a fact. there are some players who aren't very good. they never will be good. so if you want to get to the top echelon, you have to figure out how you mix that. everyone has franchises that are good, defensively. we think we can do that and achieved a good defense while still being effective, offensive look. may mean some name changes, but it can be done. we intend to do it. >> what happened to the apparent promise to acquire a lease to top 40 free agents each season?

is adam done all there is to show after two years? was hit -- wasn't available because no one else wanted him? >> what happened to my softball questions? i know of no such promise. it is contrary to everything i believe. i know that that promise was never made, but it was uninventive question, anyway. >> all we can do is look at the holes that we have and try and fill them. the preference is to fill the holes internally. this is oriented towards pitching. we have holes elsewhere. for those holes, you fill them up through trades. the next would be through free agency. that is what we look to do this for -- this off-season. we will continue to do that in the future. >> when you spoke here a few

years ago, you talked about working with foreign embassies to rectify good talent overseas. but is your assessment of how that worked out? >> it has worked out great. we still have not developed a pipeline that we need to have. i will tell you, on the development front, this has been my biggest disappointment so far this is something that i think people ought to recognize and give him the family more credit than they get. when we came in, we almost signed this young phenom. we sat down with the owners and they said that if that is what we thought we should do then to do it. they spent money on the phenom.

that is a tragedy. they did not deserve that. that story has yet to unfold. there are so many people looking into it. it is not just us, but team after team after team. so, to sum up, we have great relations with all the indices in d.c. who play baseball in their countries. we need to step up our efforts which were set back. we know is still a critical part of success in baseball. players not just from the dominican republic, but from all of latin america. it is of critical importance to us because we are so heavily weighted in the draft. we know that we will not be able to make our next big

international push until 2010. it is a job remains to be done. >> speaking of the pacific rim, the world baseball classic display major league talent from several countries, especially japan and korea. are you pursuing players from japan and korea? >> we are not pursuing players that i can identify, but we are scowling. we have to people that made trips to the area. it is becoming more and more important. several years ago, we did not know it would succeed here. everyone realized the kind of talent that was there. we signed a lower level guys that never panned out. the kind of broke the law book. there are no players in particular.