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Sugar Land To Get Minor League Baseball Team

Fringe

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Fringe

Fringe

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Sugar Land inks deal for minor league baseball

Sugar Land city council approved an agreement with Opening Day Partners, LLC to bring minor league baseball to Sugar Land.

ODP Chairman Peter Kirk and partner, Brooks Robinson, a major league baseball hall of famer, traveled to Sugar Land for the historic agreement.

A letter of intent approved on May 18 outlined a public-private partnership to fund the construction of a professional minor league baseball stadium in Sugar Land. The LOI identifies ODP as the owner of an Atlantic League expansion team that is committed to play long term in Sugar Land with a 20-year lease and a renewal option for an additional 10 years.

Potential stadium sites are still being evaluated to ensure the greatest benefit for the community.

One site that continues to be explored is at U.S. Highway 59 and University Boulevard where the city leases land from the University of Houston System at Sugar Land.

The facility – built to MLB’s Triple A standards, with family oriented amenities – will be designed as a flexible multi-use facility supporting year-round community events, college and high school baseball tournaments, concerts and other uses.

The agreement outlines a process expected to result in Sugar Land’s new baseball team taking the field in April 2012.

“This is an historic day for our community. Our partnership with Opening Day Partners is the product of years of community leadership and vision and gets us one step closer to our goal of establishing a destination activity center in Sugar Land. This project will energize our economy for years to come.

The long-term economic benefits will not only benefit Sugar Land, but also the surrounding area,” City Manager Allen Bogard said.

A cost benefit analysis shows the project will provide an annual benefit to the community of $7.7 million or a return of $169 million over 30 years.

The stadium has the potential of attracting more than 300,000 annually, tourism that will also benefit hotels, restaurants and other retail establishments.

The $30 million stadium will be funded with a portion of sales tax revenues that may only be used for economic development purposes; hotel occupancy taxes; venue-specific taxes, including ticket and parking revenues; and $5 million from ODP.

Voters approved the funding tools during a special election on Nov. 4, 2008.

ODP will contribute another $5 million for team franchise and startup costs.

A “name-the-team” contest will be announced soon with the winner to be awarded lifetime season tickets, according to Jon Danos, ODP’s president.

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lockmat

lockmat

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Will beer be less than 8 bucks? If so I'll easily stop going to astros games. Hell, they'll probably be better than the 'stros.

Minor league teams do tend to have awesome deals like 50 cent hot dog nights etc. I heard on the radio once that the Astros, a long time ago, had something like dollar beer nights. Of course, that could not and should not fly these days.

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marmer

marmer

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It might not be too widely known, but we had an independent minor league team in the area for the past coupla years: the Bay Area Toros, based at the Texas City High School stadium. They played teams from other Texas cities, and some neighboring states. Most of the players were young and living with local families. I saw one game and it was good, cheap, no-nonsense baseball; the stadium was just a municipal park ball field; you'd see better for any of the local college teams. There were maybe a hundred fans there, cheering pretty enthusiastically. I saw a couple of good fielding plays but no impressive hitting. I think they're on hiatus this season, citing (surprise!) travel costs.

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  • 1 month later...
Fringe

Fringe

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Holy crap Batman! They just announced where the new stadium was going to be built and it's by the Imperial Sugar factory. This is going to be a boom for this area and especially for me since i live close by (Venetian Estates). This is incredible. I thought it was going to go up by Sugar Land U of H off University.  This is exactly what "Old Sugar Land" needed. 

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ProHouston

ProHouston

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I agree that this is a good location, probably better than the other, as long as they can upgrade the nearby infrastructure. I know they completed the bridge and exits from Hwy 6 to Hwy 90, but I think they need better on/off access from Hwy 90 to Hwy 59 if they want people from Houston to have easy access to the new ballpark.

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  • 4 weeks later...
UrbaNerd

UrbaNerd

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How about the "Midnight Special"? IIRC, that song was written about the former(or still operating?) prison in Sugar Land, which is awfully close to where the new stadium shall be constructed!

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  • 3 months later...
LTAWACS

LTAWACS

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Minor league teams do tend to have awesome deals like 50 cent hot dog nights etc. I heard on the radio once that the Astros, a long time ago, had something like dollar beer nights. Of course, that could not and should not fly these days.

Why not? It sounds like fun.

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lockmat

lockmat

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Not bad. Actually, really good considering this won't even be MLB related.

The photos at the Sugar Land website are much bigger and show a lot more detail.

It reminds me of the Boy Scouts headquarters.

Stupid idea to put a playground in left-center field, haha. I like the berm in right field though.

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Fringe

Fringe

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Not bad. Actually, really good considering this won't even be MLB related.

The photos at the Sugar Land website are much bigger and show a lot more detail.

It reminds me of the Boy Scouts headquarters.

Stupid idea to put a playground in left-center field, haha. I like the berm in right field though.

Your right the SL web site is much better:

Sugar Land

And I agree with you about the playground. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
Lotus

Lotus

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Minor league names are usually cute and fun. Pros are normally cultural/local meaning, frightening or intimidating. Skeeters is cool, I like it. It reflects Houston and it's cutsy.

I submitted "Sugar Daddies" as a contest entry....guess it wasn't pesky enough or possibly seen as chauvinist?.... :rolleyes:

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  • 1 year later...
Simbha

Simbha

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Cool. And, here's the Skeeters' website:

http://www.sugarlandskeeters.com/

Edit: Hehe... and it seems they have a sense of humor too. From their website...

ABC Home & Commercial Services, Houston’s premier pest control firm, has been officially named the Presenting Sponsor for the 2012 Inaugural Season of the Sugar Land Skeeters minor league baseball team. As part of the agreement the Skeeters will be granted amnesty from ABC’s mosquito control program.
Edited by Simbha
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  • The title was changed to Sugar Land To Get Minor League Baseball Team

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