The owner of a Rookie-level Pioneer League team will visit Pueblo, Colorado Wednesday, and will announce his intention to relocate the club there.
Pueblo is being eyed by Jeff Katofsky, owner of the Orem Owlz (Rookie; Pioneer League) team in need of a new facility in the next two-to-three years because of lease issues, as the team’s current home is slated to be closed and demolished. The move of an existing club to Pueblo would also give the Pioneer League another team in its eastern footprint, as the Helena Brewers are set to relocate to Colorado Springs in 2019.
Under the current proposal, a new ballpark will be constructed in downtown Pueblo and surrounded by development that includes new hotels. An individual involved in the project–whose identity has not been revealed publicly–would move the Pioneer League team to Pubelo and construct three new hotels with a combined 300 rooms near the ballpark. Additional information is expected to surface Wednesday, when the owner of the club visits Pueblo to announce his intention to relocate the team there if a ballpark agreement is finalized. More from The Pubelo Cheftian:
County officials said the owner of the team will announce his intention to move his team here.
The yet-to-be publicly named Minor League Baseball team will relocate to Pueblo, after Major League Baseball identified and promoted the viability of a team here. The team is owned by three generations of family members, some of whom plan to move to Pueblo and oversee the team’s operations.
Neither the owner nor his team has been identified.
Pueblo County will host a public meet-and-greet with the team owner at 11 a.m. at the Runyon Field Complex. The community is invited to attend to celebrate the occasion and welcome the team to Pueblo.
Debate over the proposed Pueblo ballpark continues. Under the current funding proposal, Pueblo County will issue taxable certificates of participation for up to $25 million, to be backed by tax increment financing. The county is proposing to assume all of the debt risk, but has asked the city to provide 3% of its 3.7% sales and use tax plus 4.3% of its lodging tax revenue generated in the area for 25 years.
Rendering courtesy Youth Entertainment Sports Pueblo.
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