Baseball and politics are two very different sports, but you could be seeing both at the new Nationals Stadium, if some district leaders get their way.
With just five days before opening day, crews are scrambling to get all the signs up including signs to the bathrooms, signs to the seats and the most prominent sign to the main entrance.
But one sign they're not putting up is the one that the D.C. Council is fighting for. The sign in question would display the amount that D.C. taxpayers pay the federal government every second, without representation in congress.
"The residents of this city pay over 3 billion dollars in federal taxes a year," said Council Chair Vincent Gray.
The council would like to put the sign up at the ball park because more than two million people would see the sign each year.
"I think that's a great message to send the rest of the country. A lot of people don't know the story," said D.C. resident, Robert Donelson. "I think it's a cool idea. I honestly do."
But for the Nationals the sign is too controversial and too political. At least that is what they told Chairman Gray. But Gray says it's now political, it's the truth.
"That is a fact. That is our circumstance in our city. That is a fact that we pay over 3 billion dollars in federal taxes a year," said Gray.
In the end, the Nationals may get the final say. After all, they lease the property and decide what signs go up.
Taxpayers, however, say they shelled out the $611 million to build the new stadium and should have a say if the sign goes up or not.
Nationals fan, Tadas Osmolskis said, "Hey you took the money, you know, live with it."
NewsChannel 8 to leave comments on news stories.