Part I in a four-part series on the prospects for and potential impact of professional baseball in Bay County
Minor league baseball in Bay County isn’t a new idea, but bringing it back to the area for the first time since 1961 has proved to be quite a hurdle to overcome.
There have been several attempts over the past 15 years to explore the return of professional baseball here. Panama City hosted teams in the minors as far back as 1935, until the last franchise moved to Alabama and never was replaced. Debate over minor league baseball in Bay County has simmered since then, with several factors placing it on the backburner or completely off the stove.
Local attorney William Harrison is part of the six-member Doré Energy Group, backed primarily by Louisiana energy executive William J. Doré, and in May Harrison pitched the prospects for a $30 million minor league stadium to the Bay County Tourism and Development Council (TDC).
He included plans for an amateur sports facility with as many as eight baseball/softball fields and an indoor facility in conjunction with the stadium, but the TDC has trained its sights on exploring the possibility of more youth fields to continue attracting amateur tournaments in the near future.
Doré Energy Group has had preliminary talks with a handful of team owners about relocation to Bay County. The hitch is providing a stadium for these teams to relocate to, which has been the sticking point in past attempts to revive minor league baseball here.
The Savannah (Ga.) Sand Gnats flirted with a move to Panama City Beach in 2002 in hopes of escaping Grayson Stadium, the oldest active minor league ballpark in the nation. The TDC and then-Director Bob Warren sided on expansion of Frank Brown Park as a more reasonable use of funds than constructing a baseball stadium, priced then at $8-12 million. Current TDC members also mentioned expansion of Frank Brown Park should other proposals fizzle.
The Sand Gnats stayed in Savannah, but were unable to gain approval for a new stadium. They’re rumored to be on the move again, as their lease ends after this season. Columbia, S.C., is the anticipated relocation site, and that city recently approved a measure to build a stadium by 2015.
The TDC also had next year as a target to move forward on one of the two potential projects. The June 10 meeting cited the need for something viable in the near future, a stance Harrison foresaw.
“The TDC would like to have something that’s going to show up by 2015 and they’d go with what’s in their wheelhouse,” Harrison said. “You can’t build a minor league stadium and finish it in June during the season.
“I think the focus right now is on amateur sports and trying to respond to the interest of the TDC to try and put programming in place by then, which I agree with. I told them if they’re going to do that, they have to make a decision this month. We always knew professional sports would take longer with more hoops to jump through.”
Harrison said the process to bring a minor league team here would take at least two years. Doré Energy Group also is backing an alternate plan for an amateur facility with a rumored unnamed major player. Harrison had hopes of combining the facility and the minor league stadium as a centerpiece for Bay County.
He said he has several options for locations to bring a pro team to the county, but said his group prefers Panama City Beach. The latest decision by the TDC does little to change the course. The TDC continues to have plans to discuss proposals with Doré Energy Group, the St. Joe Co. and PCB City Manager Mario Gisbert in coming weeks.
Harrisonexplored an idea for a combined amateur/pro facility about five years ago and ran into similar snags. There was less momentum for the proposal then, and Perfect Game USA decided to set up in Georgia, where a multi-billion dollar complex is set for several phases of openings this summer.
Harrison is a lifelong baseball fan and outlined some of the benefits of pro baseball in Bay County.
A team will provide new jobs from April to September in custodial, food services, merchandise sales, entertainment and more. Full staffs could be used in as many as 70 home games throughout the summer and the facility also would be used for other events offering expanded employment opportunities.
Minor league baseball has a family feel, and as Harrison put it, a more “wholesome” atmosphere. That is vitally important given the TDC has struggled with the area’s image being linked to Spring Break, with some clamoring for an alternative to the annual surge of college students.
The baseball season doesn’t coincide with Spring Break, but it does provide the area with the potential of a positive image to outsiders.
A team in Bay County also could be a good fit. The majority of clubs reside in the North, South and Southeast and the market for the minors is increasing with a relocated team in Biloxi, Miss, set to take the field next season. That in addition to Double-A teams within three hours of Bay County in Mobile, Ala., and Pensacola.
Harrison said a team in Bay County could thrive.
“It’s a great opportunity,” he said. “Clearly, there’s still a market for baseball here.
“We need to know what the appetite for it is here. I think that it’s very high.”
Next: Part II takes a look at how a team could be enticed to come to Bay County and where a stadium could be built.