Councilman Joe Hatch disagrees. He believes the committee is asking too many questions that have nothing to do with the team's financial viability. To date, members of the Debt Review Committee have put together about 100 questions they want to ask Real officials. Hatch said that in a courtroom, a judge facing a similar scenario would say, "You're doing this to delay. You get 20. Pick your 20 best."

"Actions speak louder than words. It appears that the actions we are taking are delay, delay, delay," Hatch said. "We need to show we're not the ones delaying this."

Corroon said he is not delaying at all. He said he wishes the Debt Review Committee would have made a decision "two months ago" but believes the committee must have enough time to make an informed decision.

They can't do that yet, Corroon said, because Real still has not provided all the information the county needs to make a decision. Corroon has insisted that anything the county pays for, the county must own. According to a letter Tuesday from District Attorney Lohra Miller to the County Council, the county still has no idea what land the county would purchase from Real.

County leaders can't do environmental analyses on the land they will potentially buy without knowing what land they will own, Miller said.

The county also doesn't know if Real has secured a deal with Whitehall, a real estate fund of global financier Goldman Sachs, to own a 50 percent share of the team.

Doug Willmore, the county's chief administrative officer, said the investment firm is probably waiting to see whether the county will fork over public funds before investing private dollars.

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com; astowell@desnews.com