NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FOCUS : Sports fans make last pitch to tax-shy Springdale voters

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1 NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FOCUS : Sports fans make last pitch to tax-shy Springdale voters BY CHARLIE MORASCH Posted on Sunday, July 9, 2006 URL: SPRINGDALE Charles and Rachel Hancock picnicked at Murphy Park on a sunny, hot afternoon last week with their daughter McKenzi, 2, and niece Desaray, 6. It was the kind of day that might have inspired famed Chicago Cubs shortstop Ernie Banks to say, Let s play two. There s no professional baseball in Springdale. But if residents approve three ballot initiatives during a special election Tuesday, the city will be on its way to funding a 6, 000-seat stadium that officials hope will quickly land them a Class AA pro team. The Hancocks were aware of the election, which seeks an extension of a 1 percent sales tax to fund $ 50 million in bonds, but they weren t particularly opinionated about the matter. We don t really pay attention to baseball, Rachel Hancock said. On the other hand, said Charles Hancock, It could be neat. A professional team could encourage youngsters to play sports, he said. The special election will decide whether Springdale will build a baseball stadium that city leaders hope will attract the Wichita Wranglers, a AAlevel Texas League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The ballot includes three questions that, if approved, would allow the city to refinance a bond issue that s funding street improvements, extend the 1 percent sales tax that supports those bonds and use the additional revenue to support $ 50 million in new bonds for the stadium project. City officials hope to bring pro baseball to Northwest Arkansas for the first time in 60 years, when teams like the Fayetteville Educators and the Bentonville Officeholders of the old Arkansas State League groomed prospects for the St. Louis Cardinals. Proponents say pro baseball would put Springdale on the map as a regional destination, spur new development and create nearly 300 jobs. Perry Webb, president and chief executive officer of the Springdale Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber has conducted phone polling that makes approval seem likely, though he hasn t released that data. I feel very confident that on [Wednesday ] we ll get busy real quick, Webb said. No organized opposition has emerged, but

2 Alderman Mike Overton is among those who believe voters will defeat the proposal. What the stadium proponents have been hoping for is a much lighter turnout so it can pass, Overton said. I have more confidence in the electorate than some. I think they re a lot smarter than what they re given credit for. IN THE BEGINNING Webb began his efforts to attract professional sports to Springdale in 2002 after the Northwest Arkansas Council, an economic development group, and the Springdale chamber identified it as a needed amenity for the region. Additional research funded by Gary George, CEO of the Springdale-based George s Inc. poultry firm, convinced Webb and the city that they should start with baseball. The city secured the option to purchase 40 acres at the southwest corner 6 th Street and Watkins Avenue, a still-rural area just south of U. S. 412 and just west of Interstate 540. If the tax extension is approved, the city will purchase the land, begin negotiations to lease the stadium to a pro team and move ahead with plans for the stadium and its infrastructure. Design and initial construction would begin by this fall, with a scheduled opening in spring The Springdale chamber hired the Kansas City, Mo.-based HOK sports architecture firm for preliminary sketches of a 6, 000-seat stadium. HOK has designed 14 Major League Baseball stadiums, including the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and 50 minor league stadiums, according to the firm s Web site. Long rectangular-shaped buildings housing concession stands and restrooms would be designed to look like chicken houses, a nod to Springdale s ties to the poultry industry. Plans call for the field to be built below street level with an open concourse behind the first level of seating that continues past the outfield and around a grass berm s lawn seating, said Martin DiNitto, associate principal at HOK. That way you re never really walking behind any concession or grandstand, DiNitto said. You re always within sight of the action on the field. Themes and more specific stadium elements won t be decided unless financing for the project is approved in Tuesday s election, DiNitto said. It would take about five months to finish the designs and construction plans, then another 12 to 14 months for construction. FINDING A TEAM Springdale s efforts originally focused on drawing an independent league team and building a stadium for $ 10 million to $ 25 million. In May, however, during a City Council meeting, the Wranglers of Wichita, Kan., were cited repeatedly by Overton as the Texas League team being courted by Webb, who acknowledged the interest in that team was the worst-kept secret in Northwest Arkansas. Springdale would arrange stadium management when it negotiates a lease with a team, Webb said. A lease term would probably be 20 years with two five-year renewal options, Webb said, and the team would pay the city $ 300, 000 to $ 400, 000 annually for the stadium s use. Webb said he won t take a job with the baseball team if it locates in Springdale, and the Northwest Arkansas Sports Authority a nonprofit corporation founded by Webb to woo pro athletics won t be involved in management of the stadium. Webb has long targeted the Texas League, which has Eastern Division teams in Little

3 Rock, Tulsa, Wichita and Springfield, Mo., and Western Division teams in the Texas cities of Corpus Christi, Frisco, San Antonio and Midland. Northwest Arkansas could support a Texas League team and would be a good geographic fit in the Eastern Division, said Tom Kayser, president of the Texas League. Kayser wouldn t comment on the possibility of the Wranglers moving to Springdale. My official stance has been until there is a funding mechanism in place, it s futile to speculate, Kayser said. There s just nothing to comment on. The Wranglers are accustomed to talk of relocation. They play their home games in Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, which dates to The club consistently ranks at the bottom of the Texas League s eight teams in attendance and averaged a league-worst 2, 835 through the first 39 home games of Wichita has made attempts to reach out to the Wranglers owners and sent a former city employee to try and repair relations with the team, The Wichita Eagle newspaper reported last month. Members of the Wichita City Council released a letter during a news conference Friday that they say they sent to team owners Bob and Mindy Rich of Rich Products Corp. in Buffalo, N. Y. The letter expressed the council s support for keeping the team in Wichita and said the city would fix the stadium s infield and renovate the dugouts and locker rooms. It did not, however, indicate whether the city would exercise its option to buy the team to keep it from moving. The Riches haven t returned repeated phone messages from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Lisa Herman, a Rich Products spokesman, referred calls to John Dandees, who oversees Rich Baseball Operations. Dandees didn t return repeated phone messages seeking comment. Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans has not commented publicly about the Wranglers since early spring, when he touted the community s ties to the team. He did not sign the council s letter or attend Friday s news conference. David Glass, former chief executive officer of Bentonvillebased Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and owner of the Kansas City Royals, has not returned repeated phone calls. CALLING THE HOGS? If pro baseball comes to Springdale, its season would overlap for about two months with the baseball program of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Springdale s stadium would be located 12 miles north of UA s Baum Stadium. College officials are tightlipped about the Springdale project. Dave Van Horn, head baseball coach, and Frank Broyles, athletic director, declined to comment through UA s sports information department. Tom Pagnozzi, a former UA catcher and volunteer coach who earned three Gold Glove awards with the St. Louis Cardinals, said Northwest Arkansas residents could enjoy family outings to minor league games. In the summer here, there s not a whole lot to do, said Pagnozzi, who retired in 1998 and lives in Fayetteville. I think it will create an opportunity for kids to say, Hey, I want to play. A pro team in Northwest Arkansas would not hurt the Razorback baseball program, said

4 Pagnozzi, who has made several contributions to improvement projects at Baum Stadium. I think in the end it can help if it s done right and they re able to schedule where they re not competing against each other. Seeing future major leaguers would draw fans, said Pagnozzi. I m strictly a Cardinals guy, but I ll be one of the first guys to be out there rooting for them, Pagnozzi said. It s a great experience, and a good time for your kids to get interested in baseball. It s two steps up from what you see every day in college. Northwest Arkansas has room for pro baseball, said Debbie Walker, whose family is among the strongest supporters of the UA program. Walker serves as sponsor of the Diamond Dolls, a group that assists the program by selling programs and acting as bat girls, among other things. Her husband, Johnny Mike Walker, played for the Razorbacks in the 1970 s. And patrons at Baum Stadium s 14 luxury boxes have access to the Johnny Mike Walker Lounge. Debbie Walker said boosters have not expressed concern about a professional team s effect on a Razorback program that s among the leaders in attendance for college baseball. UA s paid attendance for 27 home games in 2006 was 192, 408, an average of 7, 126. A minor league venue couldn t outshine Baum Stadium, she said. I think there s enough fans, Debbie Walker said. The college atmosphere is going to be a lot different than the professional atmosphere. Baum Stadium is awesome nothing compares to Baum. Wooden bats used in pro baseball s typically lower-scoring games would compliment the college game s ping of aluminum bats and higher scoring, said Pagnozzi, who added that he d attend 15 or 20 games a summer. I hope they pass it, Pagnozzi said. I think this area could really benefit from it. PAYING TO PLAY Of the three questions on Tuesday s ballot, the first two ask voters to authorize refinancing of $ 45 million that remain unpaid for Springdale s $ 105 million street improvement project, which includes the construction of three expanded east-west corridors across the city. The third would authorize the city to finance $ 50 million for the stadium and the infrastructure needed to support it. If approved, the street and stadium projects would be paid simultaneously. Mayor Jerre Van Hoose estimates the $ 95 million would be paid by Webb said the stadium would create about $ 18 million in tax revenue over the next 20 years, including about $ 178, 000 a year in city sales tax. Annual advertising and promotions tax revenue and county and state sales tax revenue would amount to about $ 764, 000, he said. But sales tax issues seldom pass by wide margins in Springdale. In 1992, a tax to fund capital improvement projects passed by 83 votes. In 2003, the 1 percent sales tax to fund the $ 105 million in street improvements the bond issue that

5 the city wants to refinance Tuesday passed by 93 votes. In the general public, I haven t found anyone that s really for it, Overton said. Overton believes the city should find private funding for the stadium and points out that private investors have proposed building an enclosed arena in Bentonville. Since the Bentonville group came out, the whole talk around town is, Hey, why can t the chamber get their own investors? Overton said. Springdale isn t getting a good return on its investment if it gains $ 600, 000 annually after an investment of $ 50 million, Overton said. That s a whole lot of years and interest and expenses to pay it off, Overton said. Based purely on investment and return, Webb said, the baseball stadium isn t a moneymaker. Copyright Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com