The Potter County Commissioners unanimously awarded a lease for Potter County Memorial Stadium to Southern Independent Baseball, freeing the way for the independent American Association to set up shop there in 2011.
The move wasn’t surprising: SIB principal Scott Berry has been an owner in good standing in the AA for several years, and the county had already decided to negotiate directly with him last week.
The real complicating issue: the former leaseholder, Reunion Sports Group, had filed for a temporary injunction to prevent the county from awarding a new lease. Reunion is behind the Amarillo Dillas and the United League Baseball, and it was RSG’s inability to fulfill the terms of the Dillas lease that led the county to terminate it and seek a new tenant. This morning a judge refused to grant that injunction, clearing the way for Berry and the county to finalize the deal.
One potential scenario has Berry shifting the existing Shreveport-Bossier Captains franchise to Amarillo and hiring former Dillas GM Mark Lee as GM while keeping the Captains and its existing front office at Fair Grounds Field as a member of the summer-collegiate Texas Collegiate League. There was also talk of two Texas teams entering the American Association, but it looks like the need to get a schedule out will preclude the circuit from waiting for another team to enter the fold.
Image of Potter County Stadium courtesy of the Amarillo Dillas. Photo by Kathy Leigh.
RELATED STORIES: American Association frontrunner to land Amarillo lease; Four bids submitted for Amarillo ballpark lease; Dillas officially evicted; Potter County to seek new tenant for ballpark; ULB misses final Dillas payment; team could be evicted today; ULB bounces second Amarillo check — but no funds wired this time; ULB bounces check for Amarillo rent, but immediately corrects it
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