The success of the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Low Class A; Midwest League) means local taxpayers won’t need to kick in for contributions toward the long-term maintenance account at Parkview Field.
The team’s lease calls for the city to pay $230,000 annually into the maintenance fund, but two sources of revenue can offset that contribution: naming-rights money and a ticket surcharge. With the TinCaps setting an attendance record this season at Parkview Field and a robust offseason events schedule, enough money is being generated that taxpayers won’t actually have to pay anything into the maintenance fund.
If any city wants a model on how to successfully develop a ballpark, Fort Wayne should be on the top of the list. The ballpark cost $30.5 million, but city taxpayers aren’t paying for any of it: the successful redevelopment of the area around the ballpark (a redevelopment that should get a boost with new development in the near future) has benefited the team, local landowners and city taxpayers.
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