Well... here comes another one...
It's interesting that after my visit last week to Shreveport that there's talk about a new ballpark. BPD had this story link: Sports have bright future
It's starts with good news:
So maybe it's time to work on that with the lease set to expire sometime soon (there's a 3-year option). The story also mentions the ULB expansion in Brownsville as a model though the real model is one of "ballpark plus development" as proposed for Dallas:
This seems to be part of (Sports owner Scott) Berry's plan:
Time will tell how this will play out.
It's interesting that after my visit last week to Shreveport that there's talk about a new ballpark. BPD had this story link: Sports have bright future
It's starts with good news:
Quote:That attendance increase is 1,724 compared to last season's average of 1,180. Definitely a move in the right direction.
These are good times for the Shreveport Sports. The team is celebrating its fifth anniversary, it's in the hunt for the South Division's first-half title and people are returning to the ballpark.
So maybe it's time to work on that with the lease set to expire sometime soon (there's a 3-year option). The story also mentions the ULB expansion in Brownsville as a model though the real model is one of "ballpark plus development" as proposed for Dallas:
Quote:This "ballpark + development" plan is what's driving development around La Grave field and in Pensacola. The idea is that a ballpark is (major) part of an urban renewal/development effort. Unlike other downtown ballparks (Joliet, Gary, Winnipeg) these are tied directly to a (much) larger development plan and not something might be expected to do it by itself. Depending on how much the team ownership is involved in the larger project, the ballpark is (almost) incidental to the revenue that can be generated by real estate development.
His Dallas proposal links a stadium to the development of a retail/residential area. In return for a private developer bringing a retail/residential area to Dallas, the city is building a stadium as part of the development.
This seems to be part of (Sports owner Scott) Berry's plan:
Quote:That "mainstream" from my visit last week would be to try getting a ballpark downtown (Fair Grounds Field is away from downtown on the LA state fairgrounds area and the Independence Bowl) near all the casinos and the new Louisiana Boardwalk outlet mall/entertainment complex. Though from what I could see downtown development success seemed "mixed" on both sides of the (Red) river (Shreveport is on the west bank with Sam's Town and El Dorado casinos, Bossier City on the east with the Horseshoe and boardwalk) there would be room for a ballpark. How much better that would work drawing people out of air conditioned gambling if only a short walk away is hard to gauge. The fact remains that even well away from Las Vegas, casinos are expressly designed to get you to spend all your time gambling in them (like the free valet parking but $12 WiFi!! at the Horseshoe).
If a ballpark is in the Sports' future, Berry would like to see it tied to an existing retail/residential development or partner with a developer to construct one like his Dallas proposal.
(...)
"But probably to take it to the next level, it would require a new facility and more in the mainstream of Shreveport development."
Time will tell how this will play out.
