The expansion Golden Baseball League team will play at 18,000-seat Estadio Nacional de Tijuana.
The expansion Tijuana Cimarrones (Big Horn Sheep) (independent; Golden Baseball League) signed a lease to play at 18,000-seat Estadio Nacional de Tijuana, capping a multiweek search for a home field.
This returns professional baseball to Tijuana for the sport for the first time since the 2008 Tijuana Potros team was disbanded by the Mexican League and their franchise relocated to the city of Reynosa. The 2009 version of the Potros was unfortunately unable to play in the GBL and dissolved due to the financial issues caused by the double hit of the economy and Swine Flu outbreak last year.
"It's a year later than we had planned for, but it is great to be to bring pro baseball back to the fans of Tijuana in this fine venue and to bring such an exciting team to the GBL and the cities that they will visit," said Kevin Outcalt, Commissioner of the Golden Baseball League. "Tijuana is a great baseball city and will attract a very high quality of player to delight their tremendous fan base and business supporters."
The new ownership group, who completed the negotiations with Baja California's Ministry of Sport for the ballpark, is headed by three northern Mexico businessmen with operations in Mochis and Tijuana, including sports and baseball experience. The directors of the team include Jorge Enrique Ruiz Navarette (Agriculture industry in Los Mochix, MX; Yuma, AZ; Europe), Jesus Torres (Transportes Sonora in the U.S.and Northern Mexico), and Florentino Rosas (Advertising company owner in Tijuana). Torres also had significant playing experience in the Mexican minor and semi-pro leagues.
The team officially joined the GBL in January of this year, but had been working with several municipalities on a team home; Tijuana and its surrounding cities have a number of ballparks that have hosted minor league teams in the past, including Tecate, Ensenada and elsewhere in Tijuana. Estadio Nacional will be the largest ballpark in the GBL, complete with a video board that once hung in Foxboro Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. In additional news, Enrique Brito has been named as the field manager to lead the Cimarrones into their first year of action and a press conference to introduce the team and announce a number of the player signings is set for the first week of April.
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