Zebulon's error on lease could become a home run.

• Position: Thecity seeks to void the lease with the Mudcats baseball team - Brief Article

Imagine that you're trying to void a contract, and your main argument is: Rule in my favor, your honor, because I screwed up and broke the law by doing the deal this way when I should have known better. That's basically the argument the town of Zebulon and the Triangle East Regional Sports Authority is using to force the Carolina Mudcats minor-league baseball team to negotiate a new lease for the town's nine-year-old baseball stadium. "It is an awkward position," Mayor Bob Matheny admits. "But that's the way it is."

If it doesn't get a more favorable lease, Zebulon has said it will evict the Mudcats at the end of the 2001 season. The dispute stems from a 1998 memorandum of understanding signed by Matheny and Steve Bryant, owner of the Mudcats and The Baitshop Inc., which manages Five County Stadium. The memo bumped the team's annual rent from $40,000 to $57,500 for the 1999 season because of $15 million in stadium upgrades, paid for by Wake County's lodging and meal taxes. Zebulon built the stadium for $2 million in 1992. The higher rent was aimed at defraying the town's higher cost of operating the stadium, which now has air-conditioned suites, among other amenities.

But the town hasn't banked a penny of rent from the Mudcats since the 1998 season. The team has sent checks, but the town hasn't cashed them. The reason: Operating costs ended up being more than the rent. For the fiscal year that ended June...