"We will never stop discussion in trying to help this thing and make it more amenable to everyone," Horiuchi said. "We're a jurisdiction that, we want to be one that is willing to just keep our mind open. If we can help in a way that is beneficial and not hurtful to the county, I'm sure we'll look at it."

Corroon had all but killed the stadium deal in January 2007, saying it was an "unsafe investment" of taxpayer dollars, since the team could easily default on bills with only minor shortfalls in ticket sales.

Weeks later, the state came to the rescue and forced the county to give the team $35 million in hotel-room tax revenue.

Even now, Corroon is standing behind his decision.

"We have nothing against Sandy but we felt that we've studied the project and weren't supportive of it in the beginning and didn't feel we should provide any additional funding other than what the state had taken from us," Corroon said.

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Contributing: Rebecca Palmer

E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com