According to this picture’s caption in the El Paso Times our ball park will open May 12, 2014.
The caption says “This aerial shows the portion of the new Southwestern University Park that has had the field turf installed. With twenty-seven days until opening night work is continuing on the ballpark around the clock.”
The article was posted April 15, 2014.
it is hard to believe what I read in the Times.
We deserve better
Brutus
5 Comments | 
Ball park, El Paso Times | 
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Posted by Brutus
This post was sent in by a reader:
While this may being up a sore subject for baseball fans in El Paso since it was directly responsible for El Paso losing its AA team, you might want to remind your readers that John Q. Hammons and Hammons Field in Springfield, Missouri are prime case studies in how rich people who care about their communities get stadiums built. John Q. Hammons payed the entire construction costs. Springfield payed exactly $0 for a state of the art AA baseball stadium that is better than most, if not all, AAA stadiums. It also came in well below the budgeted amount for El Paso. Since my father-in-law lives in Springfield, I have been to baseball games there many times. It is one of best places to watch a game. All of this without any fussing by anyone, without tax increases. Springfield enjoys all the benefits of a stadium with none of the cost. This is how all stadiums should be built.
As a further note, it should be realized that no one wanted the Tucson Padres. I know. I live in Tucson. I have followed this since Portland got evicted and sought refuge here. Somehow, El Paso got into a bidding war against itself and still managed to lose. It makes me glad Tucson didn’t have any interest in keeping them. I’ll miss baseball in Tucson, but I will carry on with MLB.tv from the comfort of my home. No heat, better baseball, cheaper concessions.
I hope for El Paso that the stadium is a success for the city, but as major league teams seek evermore control of their minor league teams, franchising minor league baseball will probably be coming to an end. I also hope El Paso can weather the coming storm.
The same reader sent me this note later:
One other nugget of information is that San Diego’s affiliate agreement with Portland/Tucson/El Paso is up at the end of the 2014 season. That means with August as the expected stadium completion date, El Paso could find itself without true minor league baseball before their minor league baseball stadium is finished.
We deserve better
Brutus
16 Comments | Ball park, City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
It seems that there are limits to the ball park story, at least at the county.
According to an El Paso Times article “Negotiations between the county and MountainStar over the use of the county’s parking garage fell through after the group offered to lease 600 parking spaces on games days for their employees for $1 a year”.
We don’t know if that offer was for $1 per year per parking space or $1 per year for the whole thing.
The sports group probably does not really plan to have 600 employees. If they do, expect to pay a lot for each hot dog. If it is true that the sports group wanted 600 spaces, it would seem reasonable to assume that the sports group was going to re-sell the spaces.
It is hard for me to believe that the sports group offered only $1.
Either way it would appear that they taxpayers are not going to subsidize this part of the plan.
Maybe the county could help the city learn how to negotiate better.
Something got better
Brutus
7 Comments | Ball park, City government, County Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Item 5.1 on the April 15, 2014 city council agenda would authorize an additional $200,258 for design services related to the new ball park. That brings the new total to $4,020,838.
The backup material says that the design firm will:
Other changes were listed.
If the ball park needs design changes and is scheduled to open this April 28 those designers need to hurry.
We all know that those services must already have been performed.
We deserve better
Brutus
6 Comments | Ball park, City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
Have you noticed the number of changes to parking ordinances, special zones, streets, parking meters, and other things related to downtown that are happening just before the ball park is scheduled to be open?
How many more surprises will we see in the coming days?
We deserve better
Brutus
3 Comments | Ball park, City government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus
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