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New Kokomo ballpark on tap for 2015

New Kokomo ballpark

Kokomo (Ind.) is moving ahead with a new downtown ballpark, and though there are no plans yet for summer-collegiate or independent ball, history would indicate interest in the near future.

Though it’s being designed for high-school, Legion and town ball, Kokomo Municipal Stadium is clearly destined for bigger things: the $11.5 million project (which also includes $2.5 million in flood mitigation) will have a capacity of almost 4,000: 2,350 fixed seats (both folding stadium seats and bleachers) and room for up to 1,500 spectators on the berm, with an upper level featuring two suites, two party areas and a press box. The playing surface will be an artificial turf that can also accommodate soccer.

Kokomo ballpark

With the size and cost of the project, it’s clear there’s more here than just a Legion field at play, and though Kokomo is small (a total of 45,000 or so folks live in the city), there’s been talk of summer-collegiate ball in the city — and the location would put Kokomo squarely in the Prospect League footprint. From the Kokomo Perspective:

At this time, there are no plans to bring professional minor league baseball to Kokomo, but [Mayor Greg] Goodnight explained that the potential is there for a great many things.

“If Indiana University Kokomo decides to add baseball, we would want them to utilize this stadium,” said Goodnight. “There have been some small minor leagues that have expressed an interest, but there is no commitment at this time. If it would happen, it would be a bonus for the stadium.”

[Baseball committee Owens pointed out that some colleges play games at neutral sites to help generate regional interest. He hopes that teams from places like Notre Dame, Hanover, Purdue, or Ball State would consider playing a game in Kokomo.

The city hopes to sell bonds for the project this spring and begin construction in June, with a 2015 opening planned. The design is from Structurepoint; Context has provided the engineering services for the project.

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