Money had to be an issue.

Why else would the consolidation of high Class A Winston-Salem, in which Billy Prim was buying out co-owner and longtime business partner Andrew Filipowski, take so long despite repeated claims by team officials that the deal was nearly complete?

Then came news today, reported by the Winston-Salem Journal, that Prim is asking city officials for an additional $15.7 million to complete construction on the new ballpark—which was supposed to open in April but sits half finished, collecting mud puddles, in downtown Winston-Salem.

Prim says that a combination of the lack of private investors, the global credit crunch and the collapse of his partnership with Filipowski has caused the need to back to the city for more cash.

The City Council will vote on the proposal, perhaps as early as Monday night, the Journal reports. If the measure is voted down, and construction does not resume (which somehow seems like an unlikely scenario considering how far along the ballpark is), the city would be forced to bring Prim’s company to court to recoup the $12 million it already invested in the project.

"We try to focus on the positives," Prim told the Journal, "instead of on whose lawyer would win."