As part of the terms of a new settlement agreement with JD Holdings, LLC, Missouri State baseball will continue to play at Hammons Field through 2030. Missouri State baseball plays its home games at Hammons Field, which is also used by the Springfield Cardinals (Class AA; Texas League). Though the program had an agreement to play there in 2019, its status at the ballpark was previously uncertain beyond that date because of legal uncertainties surrounding the bankruptcy of John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts, owned by the late John Hammons–the benefactor who originally funded the ballpark’s construction.
The settlement with JD Holdings–which previously took control of Hammons’ assets–helps to clear up that situation. Under the terms of the agreement, Missouri State baseball will use Hammons Field for the next 12 years and pay annual rent, putting the program on the same lease cycle as the Cardinals. More from KOLR10:
The university will now pay the John Q. Hammons Trust, which still owns the baseball stadium, $225,000 per year to keep Missouri State at the Hammons field.
[University President Clif] Smart says it was very important to keep Bears baseball in the type of atmosphere that Hammons Field provides. The baseball team has been a very successful part of MSU’s athletic program over the past couple of decades, producing several MLB players.
The lease agreement also puts them on track with the Springfield Cardinals.
“We are now on the same contract cycle as the Cardinals. The Cardinals lease expires in 2030, so will ours. That kinds of means we will be going hand in glove with them,” Smart says.
The settlement is pending court approval, according to an announcement from the university that was issued on Friday. Hammons Field has hosted Missouri State’s baseball program since it opened in 2004, and began hosting the Cardinals in 2005, the team’s first season in Springfield after it relocated from El Paso, TX.