Future major league ballparks
Here you'll find information on major league ballparks that are in the works.
As plans for other new ballparks get closer to being realised, they will get their own pages as well.
New Mets Ballpark coming soon!
New Yankee Stadium
New Washington Nationals Ballpark
New Twins Ballpark
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Featured Articles
Legislators see hope for stadium after long wait by Twins
PATRICK CONDONAssociated Press
Approval for a new Gophers stadium on the University of Minnesota campus is even more likely, but a third stadium proposal - a plan by the Minnesota Vikings to build a new stadium in Anoka County - will have to wait at least another year, they said.
"Three stadiums is too big a bite," said House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon.
When it comes to the Twins, the stakes are high: Earlier this month, a Hennepin County judge ruled that the Twins don't have to play in the Metrodome beyond the 2006 season, and failure to set a new stadium into motion this year would likely revive talk of a sale or move by the team.
Leaders of all four legislative caucuses, gathered at a session preview held by The Associated Press, either indicated or said explicitly that they had enough votes in their caucuses to get the plan through this session, which starts March 1.
The latest proposal is a venture between the Twins and Hennepin County on an outdoor ballpark in the downtown Minneapolis warehouse district. It was slated to cost $478 million last year, but that's since climbed by at least $30 million. None of the principals have publicly said how they'd fill the new gap.
The biggest funding source, $353 million, would come from a 0.15 percent sales tax in Hennepin County. The current plan calls for the tax to be imposed without voter approval, the biggest point of contention among critics.
Still, both Sviggum and Senate Deputy Minority Leader Tom Neuville, R-Northfield, said that at least half their caucuses would vote for the plan without a Hennepin County referendum. The Democratic leaders of the Senate and House weren't as unequivocal - both have more members from Hennepin County in their caucuses - but both said the votes were probably there.
Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, said he takes seriously the prospect that legislative inaction could lead to a loss of the team.
"I sincerely believe that after a 2006 that saw no action, that Major League Baseball will do something with the Twins - like let them be bought and moved to a new home," Johnson said.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty also reiterated his support and said he wouldn't block the proposal even if legislators don't require that voters have a say on the county sales tax. He said keeping the Twins is important to the state's economy and image.
Officials for the Twins and Hennepin County said they are encouraged by the public support by top lawmakers but want a more definite sense of how rank-and-file legislators will stack up.
"There seems to be greater support among legislators than there's ever been," said Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat, an architect of last year's proposal. "However, it's a short session and an election year. It's always easier to be against something than for something."
Opat added, "We spent a lot of time last year and we got nowhere. So we want partners in this thing."
Jerry Bell, president of the Twins parent company, said the team isn't committing to another stadium lobbying effort either.
"I wouldn't even anticipate there will even be a proposal," he said Tuesday. "We're not going to go over there and face the same problems we faced before. It makes no sense."
For it to happen, Sviggum said, lawmakers from both parties will have to make an equal push. And he said whether it gets accomplished will likely be the defining issue of this year's session - and how lawmakers are viewed come election time in November.
"It all depends on the stadium," Sviggum said. "That's the focal point. I have this feeling in my bones that it all hinges on the stadium, because that's an issue everybody understands."
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Associated Press writer Brian Bakst contributed to this report.
Rift splits backers of downtown ballpark
By KEVIN COLLISONColumnist KCStar
The group of downtown business and property owners has been the biggest proponent over the past two years for downtown baseball, spending more than $100,000 to research and champion the concept.
Members agreed to stay mum during the 2004 Bistate II campaign to revamp the Truman Sports Complex in the hope they would get a fair hearing after it was over.
That never happened.
The Royals short-circuited what was supposed to be a 100-day opportunity to line up corporate support and demonstrate the feasibility and merits of a downtown ballpark. As for county officials, there was no serious dialogue with a Jackson County Sports Complex Authority led by a guy who talked about “kicking and stomping” the idea to death.
So why would the Downtown Council even think about supporting this latest $575 million ballot initiative, which would kill any possibility of downtown baseball for at least a generation?
“While we’ve said we support keeping major-league baseball and the NFL in Kansas City, and provided examples of the many advantages of a downtown ballpark, the primary objective was to keep the teams in Kansas City,” said Warren Erdman.
Erdman is on the executive committee of the Downtown Council and at the request of supporters of the ballot initiative has agreed to submit a resolution on its behalf.
“While we thought downtown was the proper way to do it, the proposal now is for Kauffman Stadium , where the Royals have signed a lease,” Erdman said. “It would be a vote of confidence for keeping the Royals in Kansas City.”
Let’s recap what the Downtown Council has done over the past two years.
It hired consultants to come up with a plan that would finance a $357 million downtown ballpark using the same amount of public money being asked for in the Truman Sports Complex plan. It would attract significantly more fan and corporate support and generate an estimated $21.5 million in additional revenues annually for the Royals.
Not to mention what it would do to help further downtown’s revitalization and help create a stronger nucleus for this sprawling and sometimes feuding metropolitan area.
Supporters of a downtown ballpark inside and outside the Downtown Council think it would be a mistake for the organization to deny all the work it has done and jump on a Truman Sports Complex bandwagon.
“It’s important to try and take care of the Chiefs at that location, but I think it’s crazy to spend that kind of money to basically rebuild a stadium at Kauffman,” said Buzz Willard, another member of the Downtown Council executive board.
“It’s a very important civic decision, and I don’t believe all the alternatives have been thoroughly or critically discussed. … I don’t think it’s in the best long-term interest of the city to spend that amount of money at that particular location without any opportunity for economic development.”
Gibb Kerr, a co-founder of Homerun KC, a political action committee that supports downtown baseball, said that his group, as much as it supports the Royals, has decided to stay quiet during the campaign.
Kerr said he hopes the leadership of the Downtown Council does the same.
“I think that if you were to poll the Downtown Council membership, it would be in favor of downtown baseball and would be surprised if its leadership decided to take that curious position,” he said.
“At some point, you have to agree to disagree and there’s nothing wrong with that. This is a once-in-a-generation decision and why would we get behind something that would kill downtown baseball for 25 years?”
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To reach Kevin Collison, call (816) 234-4289 or send e-mail to kcollison@kcstar.com
Oklahoma City move is in the talking stage
BY BARRY JACKSON - bjackson@MiamiHerald.com
Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin said Thursday that she has spoken four times to Marlins vice chairman Joel Mael about the team relocating and has sent information about the market's demographics and economic development.
She initiated the conversations by writing a letter to Marlins president David Samson last November.
Fallin said the Marlins have requested information about a stadium financing plan, potential stadium sites, Oklahoma City's Triple A baseball team (the Red Hawks) and the city's climate.
''I've asked them several times to visit, and they said after they receive the packet of information, it would be considered,'' Fallin said in a telephone interview.
She said there is no plan in place to help fund a stadium, but she and Gov. Brad Henry are willing to consider it.
Fallin said Mael told her that Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria enjoyed his experience when he owned the Triple A Oklahoma City 89ers from 1989 to 1993.
The NBA's Hornets have played in front of consistently large crowds in Oklahoma City this season since moving games from New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina. The Hornets will play most of their games in Oklahoma City again next season, but their long-term future is unclear.
The Marlins have met with officials with San Antonio, Portland, Ore., and Norfolk, Va., and are expected to visit Charlotte, N.C.
In other stadium news, the Marlins will meet with Homestead officials Feb. 27, but a stadium there is considered highly unlikely. The Marlins met Wednesday with Florida Atlantic University about building a joint baseball/football stadium in Boca Raton, but that also is highly unlikely to be pursued.
Conversations continue about building a stadium in Hialeah, but a large funding gap remains.
City will buy land for ballpark
COST OF TWO PARCELS NEARLY $12 MILLION
By Barry Witt - Mercury News
The agreements, whose terms were released Friday and which are slated for city council approval Feb. 28, will cost taxpayers a total of $11.9 million for two separate properties, each about an acre, just south of the Diridon train station.
The purchase price of $135 per square foot is about 4 percent more than the $130 per square foot the city agreed to pay in November for the nearby Stephens Meat plant.
One of the parcels about to be acquired, located at the southwest corner of San Fernando and Autumn streets, is owned by the Butcher Brothers Partnership and now houses an Amtrak office. The other, at the fork of Autumn and Montgomery streets, is owned by James Mieuli and houses Pacific Blue Traders.
City officials said they have made purchase offers on two other small parcels but not on the three largest and most complex properties: a PG&E power substation, an AT&T facility, and the former studios of KNTV (Ch. 11).
In total, the city has targeted 11.4 acres of private property, which would cost $68 million if the city paid an average of $135 an acre. However, the cost for the substation could be substantially higher because of the need to relocate the facility, which provides power to downtown. PG&E has not provided the city with any cost estimates yet, said John Weis, deputy director of the redevelopment agency.
``Until we know that, I don't really want to put any numbers out there'' on the total cost to acquire all the properties, Weis said. At present, the agency doesn't have enough money to buy all the land it has targeted, but it expects to raise the funds from the pending sales of three downtown properties.
City officials are scheduled to release a draft environmental study on a ballpark development next week with an eye toward finalizing the study by June in order to prepare for a potential November ballot measure.
A's owner unveils stadium plans
San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, August 12, 2005
Wolff, who has repeated said he wants to keep the team in Oakland, presented his plan at a meeting of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, the public landlord of the sports complex.
The ballpark plan, several months in the works, calls for a 35,000-seat park that would also include shops and either a hotel or apartment building in one of the outfield walls of the park, similar to the hotel that is part of Toronto's Skydome.
He said the A's owners would pay the majority of the cost of the new park, which is expected to cost $300 million to $400 million, and that the A's are not considering asking for a public bond to help finance the park like officials used to pay for the expansion of the stadium when the Raiders returned in 1995.
The site, just north of 66th Avenue, currently has light industry but Wolff said plans are for the current properties to be bought at "a fair market price." Wolff said he was not advocating the use of eminent domain to get the property, although a recent Supreme Court decision expanded the rights of cities to use the legal lever to take private property for use as a more-profitable venture.
Wolff said he would ask the elected members of the Coliseum board for help rezoning the area along Interstate 880 if necessary, and he also asked for their help in getting local businessmen to buy season tickets for the new park.
To illustrate the A's need for a new park, Wolff contrasted the A's with the Giants. "Before the Giants moved into their new park, the two franchises were relatively equal," he said. "Since they've moved in, the only area where we're equal is on the field.
"The Giants have outdrawn us by a million or more each season," Wolff added. "Their average ticket price is $35 and ours $15, so their average yearly revenues from the gate have been $70 million and ours $35 million."
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