MIAMI  The push for a new baseball stadium here began the day the Florida Marlins first took the field in 1993. While city after city worked with major league teams around the country to help build nearly two dozen stadiums, the Marlins were left to play  and endure countless rain delays  in a cavernous football stadium in front of thousands of empty orange seats.

Then the recession came along, and the team got what it wanted.

Miami and Miami-Dade County have agreed to cover three-quarters of the projected $645 million cost to build the Marlins a home with a retractable roof and four huge parking garages. In return, the city and the county will receive no new revenue from the park, and the team can keep all the money from the 50 luxury suites, concessions and advertising, as well as from naming rights, which alone could generate more than $100 million.

Such generous terms were not uncommon during good times, before city and county officials faced yawning budget gaps, potential layoffs and cuts in social services. Yet they forged ahead, anyway, largely dismissing voter opposition and the lessons learned elsewhere that new stadiums sometimes fail to deliver the economic punch promised in forecasts and that the public financing for them can handcuff future generations.

The deal was a fresh reminder that even during a recession, sports hold sway over communities regardless of the potential costs.