Minor League Pro Baseball in Sugar Land?
(Fort Bend County • )
It’s looking more likely. This just in… Released by the City of Sugar Land late Friday after the print journalists went home:
Sugar Land, TX – Sugar Land City Council on Feb. 16 will consider a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Opening Day Partners, LLC (ODP)
to provide a professional minor league baseball team and develop a
stadium in Sugar Land’s Cultural/Entertainment District.The MOU designates ODP as the City’s exclusive negotiation partner
for 90-days while each party works toward more formal and binding
agreements.ODP has a strong background in minor league baseball with more than 27
years of experience in developing multi-use ballparks and successfully
owning and/or operating minor league teams of all classifications.ODP — a community-focused operator that emphasizes year-round
community events and activities at their stadiums — has designed,
constructed and operated 14 ballparks since 1982, more than any other
organization in professional baseball. ODP is led by Chairman Peter
Kirk, one of the best known owner/operators in minor league baseball;
President and Chief Operating Officer Jon Danos; and Hall of Famer
Brooks Robinson.Professional minor league baseball is planned to be part of a larger
destination activity center for Sugar Land, providing opportunities for
entertainment and recreation for Sugar Land residents, as well as
attracting non-residents from the surrounding area.“We established a vision for a cultural entertainment district within
our community over a decade ago,” said Mayor James Thompson, “and we
have worked tirelessly over the past several years to bring this plan
closer to reality.”A Visioning Task Force composed of a cross-section of citizens in 2007,
as well as planning activities and workshops, resulted in the creation
of a formal vision for a destination activity center called the
Cultural/Entertainment District on land surrounding the intersection of
U.S. Highway 59 and University Blvd.Three specific venues were identified for initial development – an
indoor concert venue, a minor league baseball stadium and a festival
site – and later supported by citizens in a November 2008 special
election.With community direction and public support, the City first pursued
professional minor league baseball. During the past year and a half,
Sugar Land:
→ identified a specific site;
→ performed a market assessment;
→ determined specific goals for a suitable venue; and
→ through a thorough public process involving formal Requests for
Solicitations of Interest, identified the best private sector partner to
assist the City.Sugar Land’s pursuit of a public-private partnership for the
development and operation of a ballpark is intended to result in a
first-class facility ready for the 2012 baseball season.The facility is anticipated to be a flexible multi-use design that will
provide the potential to support college and high school baseball
tournaments, concerts and other dynamic uses.“Communities all over the country have identified the benefits of
pursuing the development of entertainment districts to promote economic
development and quality of life,” said Thompson. “This is a project
that combines more than a decade of citizen surveys, parks master plans,
City Comprehensive Plans and Economic Development plans with the efforts
of a citizen task force. We are looking forward to the possibility of
working with Opening Day Partners to make our vision a reality.”
Personally, I’d rather take the kids to a nice minor league park where you can sit close enough to watch the teams, as opposed to suffering the traffic, parking hassles and financial trauma of paying for Astros tickets and then renting beer and soda at $8 to $16.
→ B.Dunn, Feb 12, 2010, 07 36 pm
Whattya think Drayton McLane thinks of this idea?
— banjo jones Feb 12, 08:26 pm #
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Sugar Land had, according to good sources, been negotiating quietly with McLane in a deal they hoped resulted in him shutting down his Corpus Christi team and moving it to Sugar Land.
ODP has worked with the Astros before in at least a consulting capacity.
So maybe the Corpus thing is a go. Or maybe it’s a head fake by McLane who’s looking to strike a better deal somewhere else…
— bob Feb 12, 09:51 pm #
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I think shutting down the Hooks would be awful! There’s enough room in the Texas League for another team since the Diablos shut down.
There is no need to end a good thing like the Hooks!
— Rob Mar 1, 05:54 pm #
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