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Sprindale Minor League Sports Complex and Minor League Baseball Stadium


mcheiss

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Is it possible that they could get a AA team in Springdale but it not be a Texas League team?

I don't think so. The Southern League is too far away.

A single A team would be ideal for the area but the problem is there are no A leagues or rookie leagues close to the area. This is why the choice is AA or independent.

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Is it possible that they could get a AA team in Springdale but it not be a Texas League team?

There are three Class AA leagues in Minor League Baseball. They are the Eastern League, the Southern League, and the Texas League. They consist of twelve, ten, and eight teams respectively. The Eastern League is not an option for Springdale; it is made of teams exclusively from the Northeastern United States. The Southern League does have four of its ten teams in neighboring states, including three in Tennessee, but Springdale is in such a far corner of Arkansas that it would make for long travels. The Travelers were members of the Southern League until 1961, when they moved to the Pacific Coast League. (I know that sounds strange, but Memphis' team is now in the Pacific Coast League.) The Travs have been in the Texas League since 1966. Springdale is right in the middle of the Texas League area, but as has been discussed, there are no franchise movements known or seen as likely anytime soon. The only Class AA franchise I know that might move is the one in Jackson, Tennessee. I believe it's having problems drawing enough public support, but I'm not up-to-date on the latest happenings.

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The Baseball Stadium is going to be built before the Minor League Sports Complex.

I'm not sure if a team outside the Texas League would come, simply because of Distance, but than again, it seems like all the current teams in the Texas League just finished new stadiums or are in the planning stages.

I guess we will have to wait.

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  • 1 month later...

From today's Northwest Arkansas Times- three investor groups are apparently working with Springdale's government to find "taxless" ways to raise $30 million for a baseball stadium on the heels of news that NWArkansas would be a good fit fo a Texas League AA baseball team.

While taking papers to the recycling center on Monday, I saw a November paper which had an article I'd missed about buzz stirring for a Texas League team for northwest Arkansas.

Now, that article was significant in multiple ways...it was only three and one-half years ago, after recently moving to the area, that I saw an article pondering that NW Arkansas could support "a" minor league team. Now we're talking the Texas League, whose members include teams from the cities of Wichita, Tulsa, Little Rock, San Antonio, and even suburban Dallas/Fort Worth. Why is that significant? Well, I don't know if they're still doing this, but (warning: this is a .pdf document) Rand McNally, for the longest time broke America up geographically into major trading areas (counties whose business and communications flow tended to lead to or originate from one major city, i.e. Little Rock's relationship to most of Arkansas) and basic trading areas (sub components of the major trading area, where trade/communications had a similar relationship with a smaller city within the major trading area (i.e. Jonesboro).

Right now, by being mentioned as a viable Texas League candidate, NW Arkansas then is now also in a league with at least five cities that are hubs of major trading areas (if you count Frisco as part of D/FW).

Now, that article also said that minor league Class AA Texas League metro areas tend to be 450,000+, Class AAA minor league teams tend to be in metro areas of 500,000 - 600,000, and major league baseball teams tend to be in metro areas of 1,200,000...in other words, if the growth we're seeing predicted for NWA comes to fruition, we could be outgrowing the Texas League in a matter of a decade or two.

But back to this proposal, and why I think it might be foolish.

These people are looking at land around south Springdale. Why is Washington County hogging (pun intended) this?

Why not look in that part of Springdale that's in Benton County at the border, say around Wagon Wheel Road, to draw in the BC (and even folks from McDonald County, MO, Delaware County, OK, etc.) people?

Can ya'll who are in the professions of architecture, real estate answer me on this? Is that land at I-540 near the Benton/Washington border too hilly and unsuitable for such as a nice baseball stadium?

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Two more things:

- I'm not sure if the Texas League will happen, but if it did we'd be paired with Springfield (whom I'm tickled pink already has a TL franchise in the Cardinals). I, too, grew up in Springfield, and am equally as amazed at that metro area's growth (the newspaper said it may end up being between Tulsa and Cincinnati in population) as I am at NWA's. It's also amazing that a city which is only 3-4 counties away from NW Arkansas is so vastly different...more midwestern (though Springfield is still more "southern" than Kansas City, St. Louis or any other midwestern city I know, just as NW Arkansas seems more "midwestern" than Little Rock or even Ft. Smith).

- The mayor of Springdale is quoted in another NW Arkansas times article as saying he's already had interest in his city from more than one AA baseball team.

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It seems like they could just save a bunch of money and play the games at Baum Stadium! Somehow work out a deal with the University for scheduling and whatever else needed to be done. Especially since they are going to be adding more seats to the staduim over the next year or two. There are also going to be Hotels and restaurants in that general area possibly starting this year. I know a Staybridge Suites is building a hotel just down the street.

The Arkansas Stars Indoor Football Team will be playing next door at the Tyson Track Center in a few months, so they were able to make a deal with the University. I know Baseball maybe harder to schedule because of the number of games, but this would speed up the timeline for NW Arkansas baseball fans. We could have our own team (other than the Razorbacks) within a year or two instead of 4 or 5 or more years.

I do understand your point about being more of a drive for people in Benton county, but it would be nice to get more use out of the university's facilities since they are about the best in the country.

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It seems like they could just save a bunch of money and play the games at Baum Stadium! Somehow work out a deal with the University for scheduling and whatever else needed to be done. Especially since they are going to be adding more seats to the staduim over the next year or two. There are also going to be Hotels and restaurants in that general area possibly starting this year. I know a Staybridge Suites is building a hotel just down the street.

The Arkansas Stars Indoor Football Team will be playing next door at the Tyson Track Center in a few months, so they were able to make a deal with the University. I know Baseball maybe harder to schedule because of the number of games, but this would speed up the timeline for NW Arkansas baseball fans. We could have our own team (other than the Razorbacks) within a year or two instead of 4 or 5 or more years.

I do understand your point about being more of a drive for people in Benton county, but it would be nice to get more use out of the university's facilities since they are about the best in the country.

strmchsr (are you a storm chaser? I've seen a couple of interesting mesocyclones over Bentonville the past two early summers) in the 2002 article I alluded to about "could NWA support a minor league team", Coach Van Horn was quoted as saying he thought it'd be interesting for a minor league team to be in the area, but that them splitting time with the Razorbacks at Baum field wouldn't work. (I think the Missouri State bears have had similar issues at times with the Springfield Cardinals at Hammons Field in Springfield.)

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I think it would be hard to have U of A Games and Minor League Games in the same stadium, because both teams would more than likely play at the same times. Think about weekends, and even practicing, it would be too tight.

As a city dweller, I can tell you that a big draw to these professional sporting events is the opportunity to go do something novel while enjoying a few adult beverages with friends.

I don't think the UA allows beer sales at its stadium. I could be wrong as I haven't attended a game there since I graduated over five years ago.

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strmchsr (are you a storm chaser? I've seen a couple of interesting mesocyclones over Bentonville the past two early summers) in the 2002 article I alluded to about "could NWA support a minor league team", Coach Van Horn was quoted as saying he thought it'd be interesting for a minor league team to be in the area, but that them splitting time with the Razorbacks at Baum field wouldn't work. (I think the Missouri State bears have had similar issues at times with the Springfield Cardinals at Hammons Field in Springfield.)

I used to be when I went to Oklahoma for school, but since graduating back in '02 I very rarely have much time to chase. Every once in a while I try to set aside a little time, hopefully this spring will be more exciting than the past few around here.

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From today's Northwest Arkansas Times- three investor groups are apparently working with Springdale's government to find "taxless" ways to raise $30 million for a baseball stadium on the heels of news that NWArkansas would be a good fit fo a Texas League AA baseball team.

While taking papers to the recycling center on Monday, I saw a November paper which had an article I'd missed about buzz stirring for a Texas League team for northwest Arkansas.

Now, that article was significant in multiple ways...it was only three and one-half years ago, after recently moving to the area, that I saw an article pondering that NW Arkansas could support "a" minor league team. Now we're talking the Texas League, whose members include teams from the cities of Wichita, Tulsa, Little Rock, San Antonio, and even suburban Dallas/Fort Worth. Why is that significant? Well, I don't know if they're still doing this, but (warning: this is a .pdf document) Rand McNally, for the longest time broke America up geographically into major trading areas (counties whose business and communications flow tended to lead to or originate from one major city, i.e. Little Rock's relationship to most of Arkansas) and basic trading areas (sub components of the major trading area, where trade/communications had a similar relationship with a smaller city within the major trading area (i.e. Jonesboro).

Right now, by being mentioned as a viable Texas League candidate, NW Arkansas then is now also in a league with at least five cities that are hubs of major trading areas (if you count Frisco as part of D/FW).

Now, that article also said that minor league Class AA Texas League metro areas tend to be 450,000+, Class AAA minor league teams tend to be in metro areas of 500,000 - 600,000, and major league baseball teams tend to be in metro areas of 1,200,000...in other words, if the growth we're seeing predicted for NWA comes to fruition, we could be outgrowing the Texas League in a matter of a decade or two.

But back to this proposal, and why I think it might be foolish.

These people are looking at land around south Springdale. Why is Washington County hogging (pun intended) this?

Why not look in that part of Springdale that's in Benton County at the border, say around Wagon Wheel Road, to draw in the BC (and even folks from McDonald County, MO, Delaware County, OK, etc.) people?

Can ya'll who are in the professions of architecture, real estate answer me on this? Is that land at I-540 near the Benton/Washington border too hilly and unsuitable for such as a nice baseball stadium?

Yeah I admit it seems like it might be a hard sell but aside from university sports there isn't a lot out there. There are also some estimates that have the NWA metro around the 400,000 mark. It doesn't seem to me that Washington County is hogging anything considering what all is being Built up in Benton County. First I imagine they're wanting a central location around the metro. Second I think Springdale has been talking about some sort of sports park for a while so it seems natural people would consider it at least. Third I think it might also have something to do with Washington County is wet and Benton County is still dry. It's possible that it may turn wet eventually but I don't think anyone is planning on waiting to see when it might happen. Maybe a lot of this is due more to the fact that Benton County residents associate themselves with McDonald County than people in Washington County. I suppose you could also argue for having it further south so that you might draw other Arkansas Counties in like Madison and Crawford.

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Two more things:

- I'm not sure if the Texas League will happen, but if it did we'd be paired with Springfield (whom I'm tickled pink already has a TL franchise in the Cardinals). I, too, grew up in Springfield, and am equally as amazed at that metro area's growth (the newspaper said it may end up being between Tulsa and Cincinnati in population) as I am at NWA's. It's also amazing that a city which is only 3-4 counties away from NW Arkansas is so vastly different...more midwestern (though Springfield is still more "southern" than Kansas City, St. Louis or any other midwestern city I know, just as NW Arkansas seems more "midwestern" than Little Rock or even Ft. Smith).

- The mayor of Springdale is quoted in another NW Arkansas times article as saying he's already had interest in his city from more than one AA baseball team.

I had a meeting with some Springdale officials today and asked them about this-- they said the stadium is definitely going through, and one of them said a Texas AA team was already lined up.... Wichita. (Wichita Wranglers I think is their name). But I forgot to ask them if the name would change... I wonder what a good name would be.

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I had a meeting with some Springdale officials today and asked them about this-- they said the stadium is definitely going through, and one of them said a Texas AA team was already lined up.... Wichita. (Wichita Wranglers I think is their name). But I forgot to ask them if the name would change... I wonder what a good name would be.

The NorthWest Wranglers works for me, given Springdale's rodeo heritage.

ChickenFarmers

Hilltoppers

MountainMen

EverydayLowPrices

479ers

......

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I don't think the UA allows beer sales at its stadium. I could be wrong as I haven't attended a game there since I graduated over five years ago.

You're right. Liquor isn't sold at the UofA. One of the reasons the stadium isn't going in Benton County is because of it's dry county status. I think they said that was one of the most important features in the business.

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I forgot to mention this earlier too but I also think this location was ideal because not only is it on I-540 but also Hwy 412 the major east-west highway in the area. Sorry if my previous post sounded a bit harsh. There's nothing wrong with the locations in Benton County as well but I don't see any problems with having some things in Washington County as well. I also think it helps give Springdale some potential it could really use.

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