Springdale : Royals’ farm club seeks home?
Posted on Sunday, March 26, 2006
Carlos Mayans, the Cubanborn mayor of Wichita, Kan., was eager to talk last week about Cuba’s loss to Japan in the recent World Baseball Classic. And he had time to sing the praises of Wichita State University, which had advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA basketball tournament.
But when it came to the possibility of losing the city’s Double-A baseball franchise to Northwest Arkansas, Mayans was more interested in reading federal guidelines for specialneeds residents.
“I’m so busy that I just don’t have time for rumors,” said Mayans, who said he came to Wichita as a teenager in 1962. “With so many factual things, let’s talk about the things that are real, not the things that may or may not be.”
For three years, the Springdale Chamber of Commerce has mounted an effort to build a baseball stadium and land a professional sports franchise in Northwest Arkansas.
The Wichita Wranglers, a Texas League farm team of the Kansas City Royals, have emerged as the front-runner on Web sites such as www. ballparkdigest. com, a self-described “daily chronicle of the culture and business of baseball.”
Kevin Reichard, the site’s editor, has posted several stories naming the Wranglers as Springdale’s top target.
“That’s the chatter,” Reichard said. “With Wichita, the trouble is the ballpark’s is pretty old.”
The Wranglers play their home games in the 70-year-old, city-owned Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, and finished dead last in league attendance last year.
Moving the club to Northwest Arkansas would put it within 200 miles of the Texas League’s eastern division cities — Tulsa, Little Rock, Springfield, Mo.
It would also put the club in the backyard of David Glass, a Bentonville resident, former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. chief executive officer and owner of the Wranglers’ parent club, the Kansas City Royals.
Texas League President Tom Kayser has researched the Springdale area and said the region could support a Texas League team.
Springdale officials have been in contact with Kayser about relocating one of the league’s teams to Northwest Arkansas.
But Kayser previously has said he doubts that any of the league’s eight teams are in a position to move.
There are plenty of reasons for the Wranglers to stay in Wichita, he said.
Wichita has spent about $ 8 million since 1989 renovating and updating Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, Kayser said. The city hosts the annual National Baseball Congress semipro baseball tournament, an indication of the community’s baseball ties.
And the club’s lease with Wichita runs through 2009, Kayser said.
“People are going off all halfcocked,” Kayser said. “Well, Wichita’s got a lease, and we’re happy with how progress is being made there.”
Rich Products Corp. of Buffalo, N. Y., famous in the frozenfood industry for its nondairy frozen products, owns the Wranglers. Phone messages seeking comment from Bob and Mindy Rich of Rich Products Corp. were not returned.
FIELD OF DREAMS Springdale chamber President and CEO Perry Webb held a news conference with sports architecture and development professionals in April 2005 to announce a goal of luring professional sports to Springdale by building a baseball stadium and indoor arena by 2007. Webb said he began talking to baseball teams in affiliated and independent leagues, but discussions moved in recent months to a single AA-level team affiliated to Major League Baseball. Springdale’s early goal of promoting local ownership shifted, Webb has said, when he realized few minor league teams were changing owners.
The Northwest Arkansas Sports Authority Inc., a nonprofit subsidiary of the Springdale Chamber, secured a purchase contract for 40 acres at an undisclosed site along Interstate 540 on Springdale’s south side.
Developer Gary George of George’s Inc., whose property along I-540 and U. S. 412 was an early possible site for the stadium, contracted the Wayzata, Minn.,-based Convention, Sports & Leisure International consulting firm to perform an economic feasibility study last summer.
The study concluded the most profitable sports venture would be a Class AA-affiliated baseball team.
The study estimated the population within a 25-mile radius surrounding Springdale at 362, 300, the median annual household income of $ 42, 800, and a presence of 506 corporations, each with at least $ 2. 5 million in annual sales. The region’s demographics are similar to other Class AA markets, the study said.
A citywide election for a sales tax to build a stadium will be in either June or July, Webb and Mayor Jerre Van Hoose have confirmed.
Van Hoose also has proposed setting aside $ 5 million from extra state turnback funds that Springdale expects to receive after the U. S. Census Bureau certifies results from a special census taken last fall. Architects with the HOK sports architecture firm in Kansas City are building cost estimates for a proposed baseball stadium for voters to consider, Webb said last week. “We’re still crunching numbers,” Webb said. “We want to make sure we have a number that’s true and representative.”
THE CONTRACT The Wranglers and Wichita signed a 15-year lease in January 1989 agreeing to split half of sky-box and parking proceeds, 15 percent of gross revenues form concessions, 10 percent of novelty sales and ad revenues, and 8 percent of ticket revenues.
B efore paying Wichita, the Wranglers subtract what they’ve spent maintaining and repairing items for the cityowned stadium, said Wranglers General Manger Eric Edelstein. The maintenance credits reduce the total rent significantly, Edelstein said.
An addendum to the lease in March 2002 gives Wichita a right of first refusal to purchase the team before the Wranglers can be sold or moved out of Wichita. The addendum also extended the lease through the 2009 season.
Relocation rumors are nothing new for the Wranglers. The team was rumored to be a target for Corpus Christi, Texas, and Springfield, Mo. Corpus Christi ended up getting a franchise from Round Rock, Texas, when Round Rock landed a Triple-A team.
Edelstein is not aware of any plans to move the Wranglers, he said, and said he’s grown accustomed to hearing rumors about his team moving.
“I think it was probably more bothersome at first, but I’m very confident in our staff,” Edelstein said.
“We’ve just got to take care of our business. We can’t control what other people say about us.”
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