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The PiPress had an article on the Saints efforts (and using "star power"): Now batting for the Saints: Bill Murray

Which way will it point?

In it are some details like the exact location and, more importantly the ballpark orientation (as shown here)


Yes... you see it correctly. The ballpark would point south-southeast (and not "mostly west" as erroneously described in the article). The argument about the orientation is that (a) the downtown skyline should provide early sunsets and their won't be in sun in the batters' eyes. For night games I think there's little question that 7:05 starts will, in fact, have the sun (at worst) in the side of their faces (even for right-handed batters). If there are buildings in the way so much the better.

The buildings in the immediate vicinity should do well on that count, thought they'll be old 4-7 story warehouses, not the skyscrapers (Galtier, Wells Fargo, etc.). During the season the sun will tend to set well to the north of due west and potentially make the sun an issue for pitchers more than batters.

The major factors will be the style and structure of the ballpark itself. If it's like most built today (dug out with grandstands on the berms) it should lead to even earlier sunsets by putting it below street level. Add some skyboxes and it might happen even sooner. And, on top of that, might be signage and/or lighting. Whatever the case, there won't be any "second sunset problem" like that in Lincoln (where as the sun sets it shines under the skybox level, above the main concourse and directly into the pitchers' eyes).

But what about DAY games?

The orientation of the ballpark is really more of an issue for day games. If the Saints maintain the usual collection of 6-8 Sunday and 3-4 mid-week day games starting at 1:05 then their could be a real problem. First, there are only warehouses south of the ballpark, and they'll be fairly distant. More importantly, during the solstace, the sun will be maximally high and more likely to peek out over them.

You can get a reasonable approximation of this by looking at the Google map satelite images of the site (Gillette Plant) and look at the very short shadows that appear to be summer mid-day. The imagery, given its slight NNW orientation suggests it was taken around :10:00-11:00 AM. The shadows are very short. The warehouses around the Farmer's Market approx. 10-20 ft. across the street --in fact it and the Gillette parking lot provide "rough guides" to the shadow issues at street level. The result will be that the light will clearly be in the batters' faces but maybe high enough not to be a major issue. Another factor may be how tall the train shed will be.

On the the bigger issues.... like Funding

The pitch for the ballpark is pretty simple and already approved by the city:

On Wednesday, the City Council formally endorsed the idea of seeking $25 million in state bonding money from the Legislature next year to build a stadium - part of an $81.5 million request. That'll likely be a tall order from a cash-strapped state during a legislative session expected to feature discussion of taxpayer funds for a new Vikings stadium in Minneapolis.

What happened to the West 7th location mentioned a couple months ago?

Mayor Chris Coleman had urged the team to look at a partially contaminated site off West Seventh Street near the Victoria Park development, but the Fort Road Federation, a neighborhood group, pre-emptively voted not to discuss the matter. Coleman now supports the Lowertown site, spokesman Bob Hume said.

As shown in the video (link above), the Lowertown locals and businesses want the ballpark (unlike the Fort Rd. Federation who may regret that decision).

So... will it happen? Who knows? The Saints are being very flexible. As mentioned, they aren't threatening to leave, they have no drawings and/or plans in hand nor any formal timelines. But they now have the City, some downtown businesses and residents on their side. With a (nearly literal) white elephant of a property downtown, perhaps some funds could be found to make it happen. Tying the location to the light rail project would be a start and could makes it a teminus on the inter-city line (providing a cheap and popular way to get to the ballpark).

And... oh yeah... they had Bill Murray there to help make the presentation and to do lunch with the Mayor later this summer.

P.S. BPD's take is similarly "cautious, but positive."