Ballpark frank
Attended my first Lookouts game since before the pandemic last night.
It was a glorious night.
And no, this is not about minor league baseball. In fact, it’s never been about minor league baseball. I can’t name a current Lookouts player other than the select superstars that have come through town during my two decades and easily more than 200 Lookouts games over that time.
But the future of the Lookouts here is not about the game or the players, at least those on the field.
There certainly feels like there is something brewing just under the surface with the Lookouts’ wants for a new stadium funded with a large upfront stake from city, county and state dollars.
To that end, there was a Tuesday afternoon Twitter thread from Weston Wamp. It came less than 24 hours before the Hamilton County Commissioners meet this morning. (I am planning on heading there. You can follow along with any pertinent details on my Twitter at @jgreesonTFP if you’d like.)
Some background, assuming something crazy or unforeseen does not happen, Weston will almost certainly be Jim Coppinger’s successor as our county mayor. So his words carry extra weight.
Those words came in an eight-part Twitter thread that can be viewed here.
Weston is a smart dude. He also is a buddy of mine.
He mentions some very important words in his social media soliloquy. Rush is one of them. Transparency is another one of them.
Those put together are enough to raise some serious questions about where the process is. Are we rushing to get this done in the new budget, which will be approved by the commissioners this morning and, if done, enacted on Friday.
And in terms of transparency, have we seen a good, detailed representation of what the $80-plus-million up front will look like or what, exactly, the team owners are ponying up on the front end?
Conversely, not sure if Wamp’s mention of John Woods is needed but so it goes.
The simple truth is without a new stadium, the Lookouts will leave. That was originally the plan, and has been the way Jason Freier and his company – the rightly named Hardball Capital – have done things. That’s always been true, but it’s also 100% true that those demands also fall in line with the recent interest and demands Major League Baseball has imposed on minor league clubs about facilities that deem AT&T inferior.
What will happen? Not sure. I am not super keen on our county and city ponying up $80 million for a bunch of millionaires to have a venue to make more millions. I am 100% sure I do not want to lose the Lookouts.
Maybe some wise soul – a David of Dalewood or a Solomon of Soddy – could suggest that we meet in the middle: Lookouts folks put up half; we put up half, and get the entire foundry project started. Over the life of the deal, I think both sides would be pleased.
As Bearddawg explained in one of our earlier conversations around these parts, there are long-term benefits for both sides, but it sure feels like we are taking all the risk on the front end. Maybe if we had a little more idea of what the hard details were. You know, a little more transparency, maybe??
Braves’ big night
So, that got long. Let’s move quickly. Atlanta played. Atlanta won, beating the Phillies 5-3 last night.
It was a nondescript game in a season filled with them, but the difference between being a factor in the ‘er’ months and being an afterthought are nondescript games like last night.