I was aware Major League Baseball elevated the minor league Eugene Emeralds to High-A affiliate status this past off-season, specifically to become the San Francisco Giants affiliate for that level of play, the third-highest tier in minor league baseball. Beginning next month, the Ems and five other teams from the now-defunct Northwest League will play a 132-game schedule (66 home games) under the banner of the High-A West League. What I was not aware of until seeing Saturday’s edition of The Register-Guard was that the Emeralds must consider building a new stadium because of the move up to High-A.
The Eugene Emeralds’ home for the past decade has been the University of Oregon’s PK Park. This arrangement has been satisfactory primarily because the now-defunct Northwest League’s short-season calendar did not overlap with the schedule for the Oregon Ducks baseball team. College baseball typically concludes in May, while the short season of the Northwest League did not begin until early June. So, for as long as the Ems will continue to lease use of PK Park, they will also share the facility with the Ducks for the first month of the minor league High-A season. Logistically, sharing PK Park with the Ducks is far from ideal, particularly since the University will first and foremost prioritize the needs of its student-athletes and baseball program. Accordingly, the Ducks’ scheduling of games, practice time, and use of practice facilities will always take precedence.
Major League Baseball recently released new facilities standards its minor league affiliates must comply with. For clubs who already own established stadiums, fulfilling the new guidelines may not be prohibitively onerous, but they compound the stadium dilemma for the Ems. PK Park’s seating capacity is 4,000, which does conform with the minimum requirements for High-A; however, PK Park does not match some of the other new minor league facility specifications, which include the following:
- Home team and separate visitor’s team clubhouses greater than 1,000 square feet in area.
- Food preparation and dining areas for both home and visiting clubhouses.
- High performance field lighting.
- Higher minimum standards for player training facilities.
- Separate spaces for female umpires and coaches.
So even if continued use of PK Park was a realistic option—and my sense is both the University of Oregon and the Emeralds believe it is not—the Ems would incur the cost of substantial upgrades the Ducks otherwise do not have a need for. The ballclub has until the 2025 season to develop a new stadium complying with the High-A requirements, or risk relocation to another market.
Eugene Emeralds general manager Allan Benavides envisions the would-be new stadium as a community resource, much more than just the Emeralds home venue. For example, he imagines hosting high school baseball games, nonprofit events, concerts, and more. In his words, he “would love for it to be the community front porch.”
Benavides says the team has looked at various possible locations in Eugene and Springfield. He wants the new ballpark to be “embedded in the community” much like the beloved, old Civic Stadium was, but there is no going back there as it has been reincarnated as the very different Civic Park (which the Eugene Civic Alliance likewise envisions attracting a wide variety of community events). Few other suitable sites meeting the necessary and desirable criteria immediately come to mind. An ideal site would occupy a central location, have amenable neighbors, offer adequate space to accommodate both the stadium and the requisite parking, and provide convenient access to public transportation. Perhaps the Lane County Fairgrounds? A site in Glenwood?
If the Emeralds are unable to build their new home, losing the team would be a blow. The nostalgic fan in me says Eugene can’t afford to allow this to happen, that not being able to enjoy minor league baseball here would diminish part of what makes Eugene, Eugene. The problem is I don’t know how a new stadium might be funded. A High-A ballpark meeting the mandated new facility standards could easily cost upwards of $40 million. Would local taxpayers support dipping into their pocketbooks to pay for one? As desirable as having a hometown team to cheer on may be, I suspect it would be a hard sell. The economic benefits are difficult to quantify. Jobs generated by the construction of a new stadium would be for a short period rather than lasting. Ongoing employment directly attributable to operation of the team would mostly be part-time, low-level positions. There are less-tangible benefits we cannot overlook, such as how much having a minor league baseball franchise contributes to Eugene’s appeal as a place to live and work. Overall though, the recent track record of publicly funded sports venues has not been stellar. Seldom has there been a positive return on such investments.
There is just something about attending a minor league baseball game that envelops you in a shared atmosphere redolent of tradition. It helps that minor league ball seems more genuine than the game at the major league level. It’s baseball for everybody, affordable and family friendly. It’s about hotdogs, peanuts, and crackerjack, silly mascots, the Beer Batter promotions, rooting for the home team, and the seventh inning stretch. It’s about spending warm summer nights watching future stars pursue their big-league dreams. For many, the memories formed at the ballpark are priceless and lasting. It would be a shame if future generations in Eugene are unable to experience the magic of America’s pastime firsthand.
No comments:
Post a Comment