New Downtown Baseball Stadium, AAA Club, and Associated RE Development

[SHOCKvalue]

Though some on this board may not like it, a part of the stadium focus will likely be soccer. Wichita definitely needs to pursue at least a USL D3 team, Longwell apparently went up to an SKC game not that long ago despite not really being a soccer fan, perhaps SKC is interested in moving their USL affiliate (Swope Park Rangers) out of KC since they have had nearly non-existent attendance? Either way hopefully we can have a fully professional club either in USL or USL D3.

Why do we need to shortchange the new baseball facility when the city is in the middle of a $22M STAR bond renovation of Stryker, which includes tripling seating at the main field up to 2500? That’s probably already several times what attendance requires for a soccer club.

It would be a classic Wichita move though, I’ll give you that, which means it will probably happen.

”hey guys... let’s make an arena too small, with a ceiling that hangs like a cave, and all the suites on one side... it’ll be sweet and so unique”

”geez, who wants to help get Bass Pro as the centerpiece of a massive downtown development project when a strip center retailer out of Minnesota that no one has heard of wants to build a warehouse box instead”

”I have a swell idea... we’ll make an oddball baseball facility so that five times a year 300 people can spread out amongst 9-12k seats and scream GOAL for 32 seconds twice a game... that’d be awesome”

[shocks02]

A USL team in wichita would be phenomenal.

[ShockCrazy]

Though some on this board may not like it, a part of the stadium focus will likely be soccer. Wichita definitely needs to pursue at least a USL D3 team, Longwell apparently went up to an SKC game not that long ago despite not really being a soccer fan, perhaps SKC is interested in moving their USL affiliate (Swope Park Rangers) out of KC since they have had nearly non-existent attendance? Either way hopefully we can have a fully professional club either in USL or USL D3.

[MoValley John]

Is it also possible...if the city is gonna swing for the fences and build an amazing new state of the art Triple AAA baseball stadium...that there is possible talk about potentially swaying the College World Series from Omaha??? Wondering out loud.....

CWS is in Omaha until 2035 at a minimum. A long-term contract was signed to induce Omaha to build. Personally, I'd love to get rid of the CWS, but the NCAA really wanted the thing in Omaha badly enough to sign an unprecidented, long-term contract. It isn't moving.

Then again, I've always said I'd trade the CWS to Wichita for Big Brutus if I could make that deal happen.

[AZ Shocker]

Not a chance. Not even rational talking about it.

Omaha basically built a 1/2 scale MLB park for the CWS. If we do end up building a killer $90M, say 12K seat stadium, we will still be down about 30% in outlay and 50% in seating from the new Ameritrade Park. Plus bigger town and oodles of CWS history.

Awww. Didn't realize Omaha had built a new ballpark. Yeah...after looking that up...forget about it. Anyways...excited to hear Wichita possibly getting a new one. I always liked the cityscape view from the bleachers when I was a kid going to LDS. Hope they try to keep that with the new one.

[SHOCKvalue]

Is it also possible...if the city is gonna swing for the fences and build an amazing new state of the art Triple AAA baseball stadium...that there is possible talk about potentially swaying the College World Series from Omaha??? Wondering out loud.....

Not a chance. Not even rational talking about it.

Omaha basically built a 1/2 scale MLB park for the CWS. If we do end up building a killer $90M, say 12K seat stadium, we will still be down about 30% in outlay and 50% in seating from the new Ameritrade Park. Plus bigger town and oodles of CWS history.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

I can't figure out how to embed a tweet on mobile, otherwise I'd link this, but I found a tweet from the president of the Missions on 8/16 that said San Antonio will be in the PCL's American Northern Conference with Round Rock, OKC, and New Orleans. So it appears they are realigning slightly for the addition of Wichita.

Now that I'm back on desktop, here's the tweet:

Well fudge it. I can't figure out how to embed a tweet on desktop either.

[AZ Shocker]

Is it also possible...if the city is gonna swing for the fences and build an amazing new state of the art Triple AAA baseball stadium...that there is possible talk about potentially swaying the College World Series from Omaha??? Wondering out loud.....

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

A video I saw posted on a NOLA TV station had a local sportscaster saying he heard the Wichita stadium was going to be the nicest and most lavish in AAA.

I hope that is true. I will be making a trip back to town to inspect it myself. :)

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Also rumors in NOLA that they have a AA team to replace them at the “Shrine on Airline”

[SHOCKvalue]

Supposedly Longwell is making an announcement of some sort tomorrow at 10:45 AM. If anyone sees or hears a media source to catch it live I’d be curious. Hope there’s more specificity this time. Be real letdown if it was just a bunch of blah generalities yet again.

[ShockerDropOut]

I just hope they don't pull the same thing they did with IBA and when the cost go up, they start cutting.

[ShockerFever]

I agree that if those amounts are accurate, then for the first time in this city's history, they are building it right and for the future.

An $80-90 million baseball stadium is definitely high-end.

[SHOCKvalue]

A different source is saying $80M-$90M on the stadium.

https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orle...1d3fc31a3.html

If this all goes through, and the overall PPP development project down there isn't screwed over with historical Wichita PPP incompetence, this is basically Wichita swinging for the fences and actually connecting for the first time ever.

[SHOCKvalue]

Can we start the petition now to rename the team?

Baby Cakes . . .ugh.

I don't think a minor league club has ever made a move and NOT changed their name, but I could be wrong. It's a complete branding and marketing change.

I'd also assume we'd change divisions in the PCL. New Orleans is currently in the PCL American Southern, and with OKC currently in the PCL American Northern it wouldn't make much sense. The Colorado Springs AAA club currently in the PCL American Northern are moving to San Antonio in a fairly parallel timeline, so I'd bet the Colorado Springs - San Antonio move and the New Orleans - Wichita move makes for a swap of PCL divisions for the two clubs. Would put us with OKC, Omaha, and Des Moines. Makes too much sense, but I'm just speculating obviously.