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Ventura Sports, Montgomery County sign MOU for new ballpark

Ventura Sports Group, the owner of the Grand Prairie AirHogs and El Paso Diablos, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a new ballpark with the Houston suburb.

Ventura Sports Group, the owner of the Grand Prairie AirHogs and El Paso Diablos, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a new ballpark with Texas's Montgomery County, a rapidly growing area in the northern suburbs of Houston.

The agreement should be ratified tonight in a meeting of the county commissioners, we're told. The ballpark would be part of a larger entertainment district that would also include a hotel and retail development; the plan is reminiscent of the Grand Prairie ballpark deal as well as what's being proposed by Opening Day Partners in Sugar Land.

Several affiliated and independent teams and leagues have targeted the area; most recently there was talk of a team in the affluent area of The Woodlands, located in the southern area of Montgomery County.

It's a given Ventura Sports Group will operate an independent American Association team in Montgomery County. The agreement might put some pressure on Peter Kirk to do business with the American Association instead of working with another independent league; an I-45 series between Sugar Land and Montgomery County teams would have a lot of marketing appeal. (We're guessing Ventura Sports, which has the territorial rights to an American Association franchise in Sugar Lands, would be happy to work out a deal with Kirk's group.) The two markets are far enough away from each other (some 60-plus miles) to be viable, yet close enough to be convenient for a single league on many levels.

RELATED STORIES: Sugar Land approves MOU with Opening Day Partners; Sugar Land, Opening Day Partners negotiating new-ballpark deal; Sugar Land seeks proposals for ballpark; The latest from Omaha: Stein to rethink Sarpy move; Wolff loves a 24,000-seat ballpark; Today's big ballot issue: new ballpark in Sugar Land

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