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Bennett: We can open Biloxi ballpark in 2014

Southern LeagueNever let it be said Tim Bennett is anything less than a complete optimist, as he says a new ballpark for a Class AA Southern League team in Biloxi can be opened in time for the 2014 season.

Bennett, an entrepreneur working on a new ballpark in Biloxi for several years (and before that a key player in bringing a Braves farm team to Pearl, Miss.), says there’s already a ballpark site — land owned by the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino — and preliminary sketches of a new ballpark will be released tomorrow. Building a new Class AA ballpark in a year is an ambitious task, but not necessarily impossible: construction of a new Class AAA ballpark in El Paso set to open in 2014 only began recently.

Bennett isn’t working alone on the project (he has one partner with experience owning several MiLB teams), and the Biloxi project has one huge advantage: the city council has already given preliminary approval for the issuance of ballpark bonds. From msbusiness.com:

“We’re pushing for 2014,” Bennett said over the weekend as he watched the high school baseball playoffs from the Farm Bureau Grill at Trustmark Park in Pearl. “We are in very forward discussions right now for 2014.”

The project is certainly on the fast track: tomorrow Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway and local officials will unveil the plans for the ballpark.

RELATED STORIES: Biloxi commits to borrowing $21 million for new ballpark; Another run at affiliated ball in Biloxi; Talk about Biloxi ballpark emerges again

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