City of Nashville officials and architects said on Thursday at a community meeting that a new ballpark "in the historic Sulphur Dell area would offer sweeping views of the downtown skyline and nods to Nashville’s baseball past." Project officials stressed to a crowd of at least 200 people that they "think the 10,000-seat facility north of downtown should be called 'a ballpark.'" The potential new home of the Triple-A PCL Nashville Sounds "would sit 14 feet below street level, with light poles towering 100 feet above the field." In Nashville, Michael Cass notes financing details of the approximately $40M facility "remain fuzzy more than two months after the proposed ballpark became public" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 10/25).
BAYOU BALLPARK: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Fowler & McWhirter write $15M of Deepwater Horizon oil spill recovery money directed to the building of a roughly $40M minor league baseball stadium in Biloxi, Miss., "has some residents in the region questioning whether the funds are being used as intended and are addressing the area's most critical needs." City officials who proposed the project said that the new home for an as-yet unnamed Double-A team "will enhance tourism." State officials said that most of the money it gets for spill recovery "will go toward environmental remediation -- but that its tourism industry needs help, too" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/25).
GOURMET GRUB: In Akron, Stephanie Warsmith noted the Double-A Eastern League Akron Aeros will offer "more than the traditional ballpark food starting next spring" at Canal Park Stadium. Team Owner Ken Babby on Monday provided Akron's City Council with details and "received financing help from the city -- for a new, sit-down restaurant at the downtown baseball stadium." The all-American grill "will offer breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend brunch" and will be "open year-round." The City Council "approved legislation that restructured the city’s financing for the construction of the stadium and provided additional financing for the restaurant project that Babby will repay" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 10/23).
