There is a chance Colorado Springs may lose the Sky Sox

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by beezle1

Looks like Sky Sox will be gone by 2019, off to San Antonio:
Sky Sox To Move To San Antonio By 2019

Was just in the Phoenix area to see some spring training baseball. Was really impressed with the publicly owned stadium in Surprise, AZ where the KC Royals and TX Rangers train. It's part of a whole recreation and park campus owned by the city of Surprise. Really liked it, clean, well run with a lot of retired folks volunteering as ushers, etc. Great food too. Nothing like it here and as long as we have TABOR we never will.

[Marcy1210]

Tucson shot itself in the foot for Spring Training. At one time, Rockies, D'Backs and White Sox were here, while the other teams were in Phoenix. White Sox and D'Backs shared Kino Stadium while the Rockies used Hi Corbett Field. Both were antiquated. Plus, big whigs like Sammy Sosa would lower themselves to take the bus down I-10 to Tucson. There was a deal that if the White Sox broke their lease with Kino, the other two teams would be free to leave. Well, the city voters repeatedly turned down tax increases (even minor ones) to spruce up the stadiums (the teams were begging for state-of-the-art training fields/clubhouses like teams in Phoenix had), so the White Sox made a deal to leave Tucson, and the other teams followed. Salt River Fields was built specifically for the Rockies and D'Backs, plus there are hotels, casino, restaurants, and other money making enterprises on top of gorgeous ball fields, clubhouse, exercise facilities, and so on. Tucson voters could have kept the teams here and our economy would have loved it, but, they shot themselves in the foot, and Tucson's been in a financial tailspin ever since. We have the most depressed housing market, some of the nation's worst schools and are a community of snowbird retirees. So much enterprise is moving out of Tucson and to the suburbs like Oro Valley and Marana, Vail and Sahaurita. That won't happen in the Springs, because you have so much more to keep the city financially sound.

[mbalmedpoet]

Part of the point I was trying to make is that Springs economy is driven primarily my the military. Even though real estate and rental prices are increasing due to the Denver market, the mindset of not wanting any tax increase for any reason (save the recent road tax), doesn't help attract business or other amenities. Most communities like to move forward, not backward. Going from AAA to A baseball or no team at all is not moving forward. It's really too bad that the people there just didn't care.

I keep hearing complaints of how it's just as close as going to Denver to see a game. Moving the team closer to downtown would have been able to draw from the whole of Southern Colorado, instead of stuck in the north east part of the city. Pueblo, Canon City is only about 40 minutes away, instead of over an hour. The drive from Springs to Denver can be horrible. The difference in tickets and parking is substantial.

Everyone is to blame. The city could have worked with the Elmore group to work out a feasible deal. I think since the Rockies cut ties, and the Brewers were stuck, the Elmore group didn't really care anymore. The current stadium is a pit. It isn't a pleasant place to watch a game. I'm sorry, it's almost 30 years old. Quite frankly people there just don't care. They won't pay for a thing if it doesn't benefit them personally, regardless if it's good for the betterment of the whole.

The economic impact won't be huge, but there will be one. 2-5,000 80 games per year draws money to an area. Stores, bars, revenues, jobs. That is going to disappear. Even with a single A team there will only be 38 games, and that is IF a team is brought in. Honestly, Pueblo, with all of the building downtown is in a better position to support a single A team than Springs is.

This is going to be a case of "you don't realize what you have until it's gone."

[JohnCurtisEstes]

Blah blah blah blah!


The altitude is the main reason the teams hate it here, get over it!!

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by mbalmedpoet

The current stadium is a pit. It isn't a pleasant place to watch a game. I'm sorry, it's almost 30 years old.

Perhaps I'm not demanding enough in my recreation and the age of something doesn't automatically disqualify its validity, but to me, Security Service Field seemed perfectly adequate for AAA ball. They aren't the Rockies, they aren't the Broncos. I don't need 5 different lounges with big screens to sit in while the game is on. I don't need to have a cigar bar and humidor provider. I don't need cheerleaders providing autographs and snapshots on the concourse. I don't need 25 different restaurants serving sit down style dining fare. Well, okay, they could have used a bit more variety in food than burgers, dogs, and Famous Dave's.

IMO, I think any number of summer sporting events are going to be attendance challenged in Colorado. There is just too much other stuff going on to draw capacity crowds week in and out. The Rockies attendance, on average, is average. Rapids are slightly below average. The Outlaws do set records, but they also have made the playoffs every year since they existed, are subsidized by the Broncos, and lets be honest, drawing 9000 fans into Sports Authority Field has got to leave it looking like a ghost town. I think the Sky Sox made as a good a run of it as they could and while I'm sorry to see them go, I'm glad we didn't pony up a stadium for them so they could leave in another 5 years and leave us with a giant empty facility.

BTW, I was also suggesting, tongue in cheek, that it would be a nice auto racing facility because, if you've been any regional racing facilities, they are a far cry from being as nice as the Sky Sox place of business.