WUSA 9’s Sports Director Brett Haber can sleep a little bit better tonight. Last week Haber indicated that his inside sources had told him that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig had chosen Bethesda developer Ted Lerner to be the new owner of the Washington Nationals, and that a decision was to be expected as early as Friday, April 28. Haber may have been a few days off, but the story held — Lerner’s group has been formally selected, and their presentation to the public may come as soon as today.

The decision hasn’t been without controversy, though. Much like the way they carried themselves during the debate over the construction of a new, publicly-financed stadium, MLB officials largely proceeded without input from city officials, this time ignoring pleas from members of the D.C. Council that the team’s new owners faithfully reflect the city’s diversity. Lerner was sharply criticized recently by council-members Vincent Orange (D-Ward 5) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), who accused Lerner of “renting some blacks” in their quest to add minority participants to the bidding group. But the concern wasn’t limited to the more theatrical members of the council — D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams expressed his displeasure with Lerner’s lack of minority participation in early April, and yesterday baseball boosters Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6) noted that MLB’s decision might set off a citywide backlash against the team.

Ultimately, MLB acted as the monopoly that it is, making the decision behind closed doors and with little consideration for the needs or desires of the city that is funding the team’s $611 million playground, slated to open in 2008. That’s not to say that Lerner — whose development empire includes 22,000 homes, 6,000 apartments and some 20 million square feet of commercial and retail space in the region — won’t run the team well. It does mean that his first steps will have to include soothing the tense relations that exist between a city that feels that MLB’s every whim has been forced upon them and the team that now calls Washington home. And given that Lerner’s group is putting in $450 million for the team — thus making MLB’s team owners some $330 million in profit — he has a vested interest in seeing that they succeed here.