An RFQ issued by Amarillo for a potential downtown ballpark received only one submission, as city officials extended the deadline to drum up more interest.
There’s some doubt surrounding the future of the project, as eroding support for the development on the City Council could doom a new ballpark for the Amarillo Thunderheads (independent; American Association). Still, the city is moving ahead with planning for the project and created an informational packet on the project in order to spur interest in advance of the RFQ. The packet was sent to Thunderheads owner Southern Independent Baseball and Gary Elliston; the independent American Association; Class AA Texas League; HKS; the independent Atlantic League; and Prime Vendor, a bid-monitoring service.
Out of that group, only one submitted an RFQ, and we’re guessing it was the Thunderheads ownership. An Amarillo team doesn’t really solve the Atlantic League’s Texas problem (only one team in Sugar Land), and with the Texas League set for now, we can’t see that affiliated league shifting a team to Amarillo. But, admittedly, this is speculation, and next week we’ll see the list of those responding to RFQ.
The lack of response is causing city officials to extend the RFQ deadline for a week. From Amarillo.com:
Qualifications submitted were to be opened at 4 p.m. Thursday. But the opening was delayed one week so city representatives can contact those who asked for packets of information about the project and desired qualifications to determine if a bid was lost or a deadline missed, said Trent Davis, city purchasing agent.
The single submission will remain sealed until the second bid opening, he said.
The baseball stadium is the proposed third prong of an estimated $93 million project designed to spur private investment in downtown.
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