In The News
Grand Prairie Scores American Association Baseball Team
Monday, March 05, 2007
NEWS RELEASE MARCH 2, 2007
CONTACT: Amy Sprinkles, City of Grand Prairie Public Information Director
972-237-8140 office 214-240-2557 cell
Roger Christoph, Ventura Sports, Grand Prairie Baseball Investors
262-878-4800 847-507-4800 cell
Mark Schuster, Ventura Sports, Grand Prairie Baseball Investors
843-367-3832 cell
GRAND PRAIRIE SCORES AMERICAN ASSOCIATION PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL TEAM
Grand Prairie, Texas – An American Association Professional baseball team will soon call Grand Prairie home as plans were announced Friday, March 2, 2007, to build a $15 million stadium and operate a team in the city’s Entertainment Corridor at I-30 and Belt Line Road.
The stadium will be located between Lone Star Park and Nokia Theatre and will feature seating for 6,000 with 4,000 permanent seats, 12 luxury suites and 2,000 lawn/berm seats. With 87,000 square feet under the roof plus the playing field, the ballpark will cater to kids of all ages with a Kidz Zone play area, grill and cigar bar, a swimming pool in the Pool Zone overlooking the field, cocktail bar and soda fountain.
Grand Prairie Baseball Investors (GPBI) will operate the facility and the City of Grand Prairie will own it if voters approve a May 12 proposition to fund the ballpark with a one-eighth cent sales tax. The one-eighth cent sales tax is a proposed reuse of the city’s existing one-half cent sales tax with which it built Lone Star Park. The debt to build Lone Star Park will be paid
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GRAND PRAIRIE SCORES BASEBALL TEAM
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off in 2007, which is 18 years early, and the sales tax will be available for other uses with voter approval. In addition to the ballpark, voters will decide whether or not to devote another one-eighth cent sales tax for a new active adult/senior center and a one-fourth cent sales tax for a new Police/Fire Headquarters.
GPBI has been approved for an American Association membership and is in the process of hiring a manager and forming a team. Construction on the stadium will start in May, contingent upon the election, with opening planned for May 2008. The architect is Sparks Sports of Tulsa and the builder is JE Dunn Construction. The American Association will play 96 games in the 2008 season from May – August. The Fort Worth Cats are also an American Association member, and a local rivalry is anticipated. A “name the team” contest will be conducted in the coming weeks.
GPBI principals are Roger Christoph and Mark Schuster of Ventura Sports Group, Inc., a company formed to own and operate sports entertainment franchises in North America. The ballpark project was made possible in part to partnerships with Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie for parking and Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie for co-production of events.
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