“A lot of hard work went into hammering out the baseball stadium agreements,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez said in a statement. “Construction must include local firms, small businesses, and meet green building standards. Workers must be provided responsible wages. Baseball will remain affordable. We’re not crossing our fingers and hoping these promises hold true. We’ve got it in writing.”

The project’s supporters need two-thirds of the county commission to vote for the operating agreement, the non-relocation agreement, the assurance agreement, the city parking agreement, and the construction and administration agreement.

“These are the nuts and bolts of the deal,” said Burgess, referring to the five documents, which have been agreed upon by all parties.

Larry Spring, the city’s CFO, said the Marlins owners had made concessions during the negotiations specifically as they relate to covering the cost overruns on the infrastructure. The negotiations had always involved the team absorbing overruns on the stadium, but they agreed to take on more responsibility, which is great for the taxpayers.

“The infrastructure issue was a concession,” he said. “That’s a big deal.”

City and county officials have been working with the Marlins’ owners for the last year on agreements that would allow a 37,000-seat stadium to be built on the former site of the Orange Bowl.

Marlins Stadium Developer, comprising the owners of the Florida Marlins, will build the stadium. Once complete, the county will own the stadium.

“They’ll see when buildings come out of the ground and cars turn up on the grid,” he said.

“If they still want to sit at home not believing me, that’s their prerogative. To be honest, I love the scepticism. It’s what motivates me.

“The more the experts tell me it won’t happen, the more I seem to achieve. I feed off it.

“It doesn’t concern me at all. I have my goals and I know they’re realistic.”

“We will definitely be celebrating tonight. This is a major step forward and one more target delivered. I remain committed to approaching every stage of this development with the same passion and vigour with which we attacked the planning stage and I have endeavoured to ensure that the same is true of the people who will work with me on this project.

“My eye is always on that fixed end date of July 2010. I remain confident and positive that we can and will achieve everything that we have promised and I won’t rest until I am watching the British Grand Prix at Donington Park next year.”

“Everyone is very excited about it, we are all looking forward to getting down here on a day-to-day basis and familiarise ourselves with the surroundings,The most important aspect for me is the playing surface and it’s top-class.”