After commissioning a study on a Triple-A ballpark in downtown San Antonio, the group Centro San Antonio says it has no plans to make the findings public.
There has been an effort in San Antonio to replace Wolff Stadium–home of the San Antonio Missions (Class AA; Texas League)–with a downtown ballpark that would host a Pacific Coast League franchise. In the fall of 2015, Centro San Antonio proposed a study by the Washington, DC-based Brailsford & Dunlavey. Centro San Antonio, which is a nonprofit that focuses on events and development within downtown San Antonio, says that while the study is complete, it is holding off on releasing the findings.
This decision was apparently reached after Centro San Antonio consulted with other entities. More from the San Antonio Business Journal:
“Upon consultation with our legal adviser and the city of San Antonio, Centro San Antonio has decided not to release the downtown ballpark feasibility assessment report at this time,” Centro President and CEO Pat DiGiovanni said in an email.
Backers of the proposed project had made some progress. In April, San Antonio Missions owner Dave Elmore committed to moving his Triple-A baseball franchise, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, to the Alamo City as soon as 2019, provided San Antonio would develop a new downtown baseball stadium for the Pacific Coast League team.
There have been some brush backs since the report was commissioned.
City Councilman Ron Nirenberg has questioned the need for another minor league stadium in San Antonio, and he challenged local leaders to set their sights on the major leagues.
“If we take a premium location for a Triple-A ballpark, it would be that much harder to find a premium place on the downtown map for a major league stadium,” he said. “Those are the opportunity costs we have to consider.”
There are, of course, a lot of moving pieces in the San Antonio plan. Along with San Antonio officials working out a funding model and ballpark location, the Elmore Sports Group will have to line up its teams, as the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) would go to San Antonio while the current incarnation of the Missions would head elsewhere, perhaps Amarillo. In that case, maybe San Antonio wants to have more information together before such as study goes public.
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