Part IV in a four-part series on the prospects for and potential impact of professional baseball in Bay County
The puzzle that involves relocating a professional baseball team doesn’t always come together. For four cities, however, the pieces fit quite nicely.
The push for a minor league team in Bay County is progressing slowly. It could be several years before anything is concrete in this area, if at all, but the six-member Doré Energy Group hopes to join other communities in celebrating minor league baseball.
Pensacolahas become the standard bearer among recent new franchises. The Blue Wahoos of the Double-A Southern League play in a new stadium on the waterfront and have been at the top in attendance since 2012. The city originally had an Independent team before it attracted a Major League Baseball-affiliated club during construction of Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
Biloxi, Miss., and Fredericksburg, Va., are aiming for new stadiums and new beginnings in 2015. Columbia, S.C., also is in the advanced stages of finalizing a complex to bring a still unnamed team to that city.
Some recent attempts have failed. Ocala courted the Single-A Tampa Yankees, but the move was called off before it gained steam earlier this year out of concern over the use of tax dollars to build a stadium.
Opposition over the use of public funding isn’t anything new for Biloxi, Pensacola, Columbia and Fredericksburg. However, prospective and current owners worked out details and in some cases eased the financial burden on their own.
Each of those four cities had different journeys to the same destination. The following is a glimpse at the process for each, from inception to realization.
No blues in Pensacola
The Pensacola Pelicans played Independent league baseball from 2002-2010 under current co-owner Quint Studer. The owner of a private health care consulting company, Studer made moves to bring Double-A baseball to Pensacola in 2010 amid plans for Bayfront Stadium, which was set to be the home of the Pelicans.
Studer first sold the Pelicans franchise to owners in Amarillo, Texas. He purchased the Carolina Mudcats of the Southern League while also facilitating the move of Kinston, N.C., to replace the Mudcats. Due to territory infringement, Studer paid a fee to the Mobile, Ala., BayBears as part of the move.
The 5,038-seat Bayfront Stadium was constructed for nearly $24 million as part of the Community Maritime Park project. Initially the stadium was met by some opposition, but a group of concerned residents failed to turn in enough signatures to place the issue on a referendum for a vote, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
The city approved stadium construction in April, 2009, and issued $46 million in bonds for the entire project. Community Maritime Park also includes the Hunter Amphitheater located steps behind the right-center field fence. Studer and the amphitheater’s namesakes ear-marked some of their own money for construction.
BayfrontStadium holds the fewest number of spectators in the Southern League, but the Blue Wahoos led the league in attendance in 2012 with an average of 4,826 per game. The Blue Wahoos were second in attendance in 2013 and currently are a close third this season.
Bayfront Stadium was named the 2012 Baseball Park of the Year by Baseballparks.com, which included stadiums on all levels.
Cheap land in Biloxi
It helps when teams can partner with local entities, and it definitely doesn’t hurt when one of those is the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino. The new team in Biloxi, which will be the former Huntsville Stars of the Southern League, will play in a $36 million 5,000-seat stadium north of the casino located in downtown.
BeauRivage contributed 15 acres of land for construction and is charging the team only $1 a year for the property, according to SportsNola.com. The web site reported that the land is valued at $57 million.
Ownership partner Tim Bennett worked for more than 10 years to bring baseball to Biloxi. He also was part of the Mississippi Braves move in 2005.
The stadium was financed by $25 million in bonds by the city and $15 million from the Mississippi BP Settlement Fund. Construction is set to begin by July 21 and the city will pay a $10,000 penalty to the team for every unplayable home game next season, the Sun Herald of Biloxi and Gulfport, Miss., reported.
Like the Blue Wahoos, Biloxi team owner Ken Young is allowing fans to choose the new name for the team. He also told the Sun Herald he is looking into corporate naming rights for the stadium.
The Stars will move from the oldest stadium in the Southern League to the newest next season. They failed to draw even while competing for league titles, finishing at the bottom in attendance each year since 2007.
All private in Fredericksburg
Hagerstown, Md., applied to move its Single-A South Atlantic League franchise in 2013. The Suns are planning to play in Fredericksburg next year, but the team won’t be without a home should a 4,750-seat stadium not be ready by then.
The Suns were required to renew their lease with the city of Hagerstown through 2016, per South Atlantic League rules, the Hagerstown Herald-Mail reported. The contingency plan ensures the viability of the franchise, and the Suns offered to pay the city $50,000 for the extension.
The Fredericksburg ownership group is paying for the $29 million stadium through private funding, The Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg reported. The newspaper reported the group received funding from two banks and the city is working on an array of tax breaks and fee waivers to offset the costs. The city also pledged to pay $8 million for a parking facility.
The stadium will be housed along with five artificial-turf fields through partner Diamond Nation. The fields can be used for baseball and softball
A Virginia House of Delegates Bill also will give the city 3.5 percent of the state sales tax revenue collected at the complex. The funds only can be used for stadium upkeep or repaying bonds.
The stadium is tentatively set to be built on 38 acres of land originally intended for the U.S. National Slavery Museum. The museum organization wasn’t paying its real estate taxes, according to The Free Lance-Star, and the baseball ownership group was granted a 60-day extension to close the sale.
Build it; we’ll be there in Columbia
Columbiais the lone destination on this list without a definite team. Jason Freier, the owner of minor league teams in Fort Wayne, Ind., and Savannah, Ga., guaranteed he would bring one of the two teams to Columbia if a stadium was built, according to The State newspaper.
The city approved a measure in March for a $90.2 million complex that includes a $35 million 8,500-seat stadium, the newspaper reported. More than 76 percent of the project will be paid for by public funds and two partner developers would supply the remainder of the financing.
The city outlined several revenue streams, including $57 million in bonds, a $29 loan for the stadium to be paid back over 30 years and $9.4 million in unallocated monies for water and sewage.
Freier told the city he would mirror the complex after the one he built in Fort Wayne. His company paid for operating and short-term maintenance and also gave $5.5 million to the project, the paper reported.
The tentative opening date for a new team is in 2016, although Freier had hopes of it being a year earlier. The complex could be used year-round and the city will receive any ticket sales and advertising dollars from non-baseball events.