Good news for Harrison Square supporters and taxpayers
Posted by Mike Sylvester - 8/14/08 @ 7:42 pm - Filed Under Featured, Local Politics
The Fort Wayne Wizards extended their current contract to play in Fort Wayne through 2010.
This contract extension is a very good thing for Harrison Square and for the taxpayers of Fort Wayne.
There is obviously no way that the new baseball stadium could possibly spur downtown development without a resident baseball team and it seems unlikely that Fort Wayne could have quickly located a single A or double A team and “convinced” them to move to Fort Wayne. “Convincing” another team to move to Fort Wayne likely would have cost the taxpayers of Fort Wayne a significant amount of taxpayer dollars.
The two year contract extension is clearly good news!
Mike Sylvester
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12 Responses to “Good news for Harrison Square supporters and taxpayers”
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Don’t worry Mike, if the Wizards ever skip town there are folks in town to take over the job of putting baseball in Fort Wayne.
I do believe that we need to move up to at least the High-A level, if not Double A.
What’s amazing is that the City did not require this to be done before investing our money into the stadium.
How would that even be possible Phil? Any insight you could provide is greatly appreciated.
Personally I’m pretty happy to know that HS played a part in the Padre’s decision to renew the contract.
Curious…how would a re-affiliation cost anyone anything?
Chad:
If Fort Wayne could not have extended The Wizards then Fort Wayne would have had to go out and find another team to come to Fort Wayne.
All of the single A and double A teams already have a home stadium… So Fort Wayne would have to “convince” one to move here…
Mike Sylvester
Had they not re-upped with the Padres, I doubt they would have had to do much convincing - any team (with the exception of the Reds b/c of Dayton) would be crazy not to jump at the chance to move into Fort Wayne. In any regard, it’s a good thing they re-upped given the fact that all the nearby teams are locked into PDC’s through at least 2010.
Or we could actually start a full team from scratch with local players out of High School and College and Little League Veterans and actually have our own team!
Yes to the Summit City Sandbaggers!
That only guarantees that the soon to be renamed team will stay for two years. What assurance do we have that this stadium will outlast the old one?
Enders, is their a black cloud constantly above your head?
The upgraded 2 yr contract is minor league.
We’re about to see the destruction of the Wizards baseball stadium over at the Coliseum - this is a perfectly serviceable building which is disappearing because the owners of the local baseball team aren’t satisfied with their dollar take from the operation.
The sad fact is we are paying for the existence of a tax levied construction and now for new ones. Is the old Wizard’s baseball stadium & Coliseum paid for? What do we as tax-payers owe on the principal and interest of both those buildings in debts?
This smells: Jason Freier/Wizards Owner: Freier’s confidence that the entire project will be a success is based on a track record of developments.
sources:
Local Fort Wayne Newspapers.
Local Tv Channels.
Yeah, I bet Uncle Bill and Mark Chappius would have moved right in to save the day.
Mr. Green Jeans
As far as I can tell, the only thing between my head and the ceiling the same colorless, odorless gases that exist everywhere else.