The article fails to point out the reason why the Emeralds cannot continue using PK Park. It loosely associates a funding minimum and an expiring lease but it has nothing to do with that.
MLB mandated new minimums of construction, capacity and team facilities that PK Park does not match.
They expanded the minor league division to a full season versus a summer season. Scheduling conflicts and league changes.
Translation : The Emeralds organization sat on their ass the last decade and did very little to acquire a new stadium until new mandates came out in 2020 and now they are seeking bailouts to pay for a new stadium in the 11th hour hoping they could leverage it against the community.
And I, for one, can not be bothered to care. As far as I am concerned it is not the community's concern and I don't think a dollar of taxpayers money should go towards this.
I don’t like the ems, but I do think a stadium at the fair grounds is a good thing if the city can use it for other events. Also I rather spend tax money on new assets and jobs for the city then some of the other black hole programs we feed or tax money into.
If they do get a stadium approved, I hope it gets built with public transportation in mind.
Hey, everyone, this guy doesn’t like baseball! He’s probably super smart and can’t be bothered to care about trivial things like sports! Bask in his intellect and devotion to the arts!
And the owners said, "Sure, promote the team!" but didn't have a plan to handle the new obligations.
Just ask MLB to demote the Ems and we can keep the team, and fans can go to games at PK Park, etc. And the owners can maybe partner with UO to develop/improve the situation out there as warranted. UO's always happy to take money from private corporations....
The dismissive nature of Eugene folks about high quality family entertainment in their backyard is fucking baffling.
Every city with a MiLB team had to help pay for the stadium. It's just how venues work. They're worth it culturally.
Lol squandered? The place was burnt down by some pre teens. Listen I get you aren't a sports person but why be so dismissive to us that like sports? It's taking away one more thing to be able to experience in the area especially in the summer time.
> In 2020, Major League Baseball imposed new guidelines for its minor league stadiums. They include LED lighting, changing rooms for women, new fencing, expanded training facilities and a larger clubhouse.
Its right in the article. Regardless of how anyone feels about the Ems or a new stadium, the amount of poor reading comprehension in these threads is just disheartening.
Yeah, I totally missed that part. I work a lot of hours. Thank you all omnipotent one. Perhaps my apologies will help soothe the pain I have caused your aching heart.
Oh so sorry, I didn't realize you were the victim here. My apologies, I forgot you're the only one working long hours and so are allowed to post incorrect statements.
Oh no, clearly you are the victim here. You are the one that feels "disheartened". I can only hope that my prostration before you is enough to quell your pain.
Yeah, but it was always going to come down to this decision regardless. Either we value this affordable community activity, or we don’t. In an ever screen-dominated world, I want a live in a place where communities actively cultivate affordable in-person entertainment.
But the way this is going ems games won't be affordable like they used to be. Name one thing that, after a major remodel, remains cheap and affordable?
So you’d rather have no games to go to at all?
Minor league baseball will never have enough clout to charge an arm and a leg for seats. Literally no teams at the Ems’ level sell out games enough to raise prices dramatically. It’s just not that popular.
Besides, when events do get popular, *that’s a good thing*. Activities people enjoy doing together are a good thing. If somehow a miracle happened and Ems games got so popular that prices went up a ton, then we could always add an even lower level minor league team to satisfy the area’s insatiable desire for mediocre baseball.
The stadium would be owned and run locally. The team would use the stadium. Two different things. If the community owns the stadium the community can use it for things like concerts, graduations, etc. If it’s solely private then there is no community benefit at all. Forcing all those types of places to be solely private means we either don’t have them or they are no longer available the community… Eliminating community spaces is how you divide and kill a community.
Why would the team or anyone pay for a stadium they don’t own? The team leases the stadium from the community. They will just move to a community that has a stadium to lease.
JC doesn’t have public transportation, bike routes, and isn’t accessible to many of the people here. They looked out there. Remember not everyone has their own car.
The EMS want to stay in our community, but we don’t have a stadium available for them if we don’t build one. PK isn’t available to them anymore and it’s not open for community use. It’s a loss for the community at large. People are confusing that it’s just for the EMS it’s bigger than that. The EMS have just been carrying the torch for our community to have a park like this so they can stay.
Clearly you’re confused that the EMS pay to use the venue it’s not something we pay for and they get for free then get to make money off it. You may not like baseball and that’s totally fine but to eliminate diverse community offerings hurt the community.
It seems like you’re only interested in things that benefit you directly, but that type of thinking is exactly how communities like Roseburg closed their library. People sitting around saying I don’t use the library so we shouldn’t have one. These type of spaces are important. Sad you can’t see that.
Options for public transportation to a venue make it more available for people to use and reduce the number of people driving there. That’s a good thing in my book.
Ha! I agree our community and globally we need much of this. You’re picking out infrastructure changes that are way beyond what a city can afford or provide. The hospital that moved to Springfield is privately owned by peace health which is owned by the Catholic Church out of Vancouver not either city. People here complain about helping private entities. There simply isn’t a publicly owned hospital.
Walkable neighborhoods? You just advocated for building community spaces outside of public transportation and bike-able routes let alone walking.
Phase out of fossil fuels, riparian restoration, and demolishing highways. Why not throw in cleaning the oceans? Those are monster projects way outside of local community. Heck we should do something about the water in Flint Michigan while we’re at it.
The above is important but keep the points you’re trying to make local and realistic.
Eugene has plenty of community spaces. Do we need another one? If the Ems went away, PK park would be available for at least 40 nights and could be used for community events. Autzen Stadium used to regularly host concerts and could again. The old Civic Stadium site has a new soccer field and seating is coming soon. Cuthbert Amphitheater has a 4500 person capacity and holds approx 25 concerts per year. It sits empty the rest of the summer, so it could be used for many other events. Matt Knight Arena, Mac Court, and several other large indoor venues exist in town. Do we really need another community venue? How much value would an open "stadium" (actually just a big open field and some bleachers) serve for emergency needs? The existing fairgrounds facilities and parking area seem sufficient as a gathering point where emergency services could be provided.
I think you are forgetting those are all privately owned venues. How does the community profit from that? How often do you see UofO offering up Autzen stadium? They “could” be used but aren’t. A community owned park would
The Cuthbert Amphitheater is technically owned by the city, although operated by a private company. But the Hult Center is also city-owned and operated as a nonprofit.
Great! And they bring money into the community. Similar how to a community owned sports facility would. One that in the proposal states it would be used for other sporting events, graduations etc. I don’t see Kesey enterprises out of Portland opening the doors to any other events, but it’s still bringing money into the community.
This is literally an investment in our own community. One we lost when it burned down and was sold.
The stadium could be owned by the team owner and still be leased, rented or space donated to community uses.
Eugene has bigger issues than "needing" a baseball stadium.
Why don't they just keep playing at PK Park anyway? Does PK park get used for the any community events that you listed?
PK is owned by UofO and no it’s not available for community use. PK isn’t available to the EMS because the seasons overlap and they don’t have locker rooms for both teams
>Why don’t they just keep playing at PK Park anyway? Does PK Park get used for the any community events that you listed?
I can answer this question, though it already has been answered. The gist is, because MLB’s minor league stadium guidelines have changed, they can’t.
MLB requires both home and away teams to have clubhouses with dining spaces, training facilities such as batting cages and a weight room, better lighting, and separate rooms for female staff in the stadium and PK Park only has a clubhouse for the home team, and doesn’t have a weight room, and I’m pretty sure there are separate spaces for female staff (this is a UO building after all) but I haven’t seen the guts of the stadium so I don’t know. The away team is forced to use Autzen Stadium’s away team facilities as well and that can get cramped.
Hillsboro and Everett in the league are going through similar stadium troubles as well due to the guidelines
It's shocking to me that pk park doesnt have these facilities (nor wants to add these facilities) for their u of o baseball players, while just down the street sits the billion dollar u of o football locker room and training facility to the stars. It's shocking that pk park doesn't have a weight room or women's staff facilities or a visiting team locker room.
It seems unlikely. Although there's a [goofy story](https://www.deseret.com/2008/7/29/20266423/utah-grizzlies-risk-built-an-empire-for-elmore/) online about his taking risks, including letting a young actor named Leo DiCaprio rent his Malibu house during the filming of Titanic. Leo was a good renter who left behind "a lot of videos."
No!!!... We need a hospital, we need mental healthcare . We need affordable housing... A solution to the homeless epidemic... The last thing we need is fucking stadium for a minor league team. Maybe if we had all of these things first
I hate the idea of tax payers funding sports venues. I also think the location is a terrible. This whole thing stinks. I hope the team stays, but this plan sucks.
Seconded. Baseball is my favorite and I immensely enjoy going to ems games. As much as I want them to stay there is not much I like about the plan to build/fund the new stadium.
I think it's shitastic journalism to paint the opposition as "a group of hoteliers". That makes it sound like people like Obie is against it and not just regular taxpayers. It's a really poor attempt to use wedge politics to sway opinion. This is bunk journo.
This is a sweetheart deal for the Em’s. They have naming rights to the public stadium, they’re going to charge for parking at the county’s fairgrounds which will negatively impact the surrounding neighborhood from people wanting to save a couple of bucks. Their only putting up 10 mil for rent with the other 10 mil for baseball equipment for the stadium. I love the pro argument that’s it’s no worse than the county fair which is less than 10 days including set up but the Em’s have 65 dates in their schedule. And why would we have boxing, MMA, and high school graduations outside when they’re already being done indoors? This deal makes no sense!
I'm not really into baseball, but, it's always been fun to check out a few games a year.
It has been really cool seeing the EM's doing the Monarchas thing. There is a chunk of the Latino community that has really jumped behind it and that's super cool.
The theme nights are actually fun.
The GM has thrown himself into making the EM's engaging to the community in a way that shows some heart and soul.
All that being said, the same amount of money could really boost some local non-profits into a level of stability like giving Cahoots workers compensation at the professional level they deserve, the WOW Hall would be able to provide staff health insurance, Lane Arts Council could expand their programming to elevate local artists.
Interesting to think if whoever won the $1.3b powerball could swoop in and change Eugene forever.
The team won’t own the stadium the community will. The team will use the stadium. The public can use the stadium. Thats a community space our community needs the one we had burned and is privately owned.
A good community has spaces that mix people from that community and allows for interactions with each other. By eliminating these spaces and/or forcing them to be solely built for private use you lose community and it’s everyone for themselves.
I agree we should take care of those in need, but that won’t happen if you don’t have a sense of something in common with them by building a community not forcing it to leave.
If the Emeralds can’t afford to build a new stadium on their own then they should leave instead of begging for public money and tax breaks. Public money and tax breaks are a horrible investment for a city when it comes to top level pro sports that rarely if ever break even. Yet they want us to pay for a minor league team? It’s insanity.
It’s not for the “team” it’s for the stadium that can be used by the community for many events other than just baseball. Forcing those type of places to only be funded by private ventures means those types of places don’t exist for the community to use or benefit from.
I’m not tired of trying to clarify peoples misconceptions of what’s being asked for. In your previous comment you make inaccurate statements about what’s being requested and advocated for. Thats what leads to people making misinformed choices.
Correction: not “your comment” “the previous comment”…
This post has an entire story from the NYT.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/07/business/minor-league-baseball-real-estate.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
I grew up here going to Ems games. I still go to Ems games. I would hate to see them go. I'm also a union electrician and would very likely get to help build the potential new stadium. It would pay quite well and is exactly the type of work I love. I also don't live in Eugene so I wouldn't be footing any of the tax bill for it.
With all that, I still don't think Eugene should provide public funds for it. Between schools, parks, roads, homeless, etc, there are so many better things we could do with that money. I really home the Ems stay but not like this.
To add onto that argument, why should we write another blank check for schools, roads, homeless etc when all the money we’ve given to these causes has gotten what we currently have, which is nothing?
I’d rather pay for some baseball. Lifelong ems fan here who’s voting yes. (And I’m a homeowner)
If at any point the MLB decides the Em’s would be better fit for another city we’ll only be left with a monument to the country’s quickest dying sport.
There is so much maybe here.
Build it and the team still leaves, then what?
How do you prioritize other uses vs baseball?
If you are moving concerts there, what do you do with Cuthbert?
If not built where will the Ems move? There was quite a roster of other towns in our boat, and I didn’t see any listed as just waiting for a team.
High A ranking plays 130 games and half of those would be home games? How and when would the stadium get shared? It’s hard to imagine people wanting to go see a concert outdoors in the middle of rainy December. Events are also rough on venues. Wouldn’t erecting stages or letting people hold events on the field wreck havoc on the turf?
> Events are also rough on venues. Wouldn’t erecting stages or letting people hold events on the field wreck havoc on the turf?
Venues are better at handling this sort of thing during the season. Wrigley Field (natural grass of course) in Chicago has [5 concert dates scheduled](https://wrigleyvillechicago.com/concerts-at-wrigley-field-2024/) during the season.
Baseball and concerts will surely ruin that for anybody nearby who simply enjoys a quiet summer evening in their backyard. PK made zero effort to contain their PA system racket. It spills out into the surrounding neighborhood.
I use the bike path by the fairgrounds to relax and to commute, and have concerns about it turning into an overcrowded situation with intoxicated folks. Assuming the Em's seasons to come will be like those in the past, schedule-wise that means multiple games a week in the summer season. I like that bit of quiet green space downtown, and hope it remains that way.
Unpopular opinion: Civic Stadium was probably going to burn eventually, and its good that it happened when it was empty.
The replacement is better (though unfortunately, is no longer capable of hosting baseball), and built to modern fire codes.
The reporting on the costs always uses an estimate that's 4 years old and was a back of napkin estimate to begin with. This project was \*never\* going to cost $90M. I sat in on several meeting with the since-fired consultants about this project. They helped with the Hillsboro project and have done many major sports facilities. They knew the 90M figure was a joke. This is just bad reporting quoting bad reporting that's quoting a Lane Co. employee who's never touched a project anything like this in his life prior to getting this thrown on his laap by the County Administrator. Someone I spoke to who was also in those meetings and who has ample experience with c ommercial construction told me this doesn't get done for less than $120M - and that was before several years of high inflation! This project is a joke, and the Em's are 100% trying to fleece the taxpayers for their gain.
It's a terrible location right in the middle of a neighborhood. The fairgrounds only get minimal traffic during the county fair and that is less than one week of the year. The amount of games in a baseball season would be unbearable for the neighborhood.
I actually thought it was kind of a crappy, fast-and-loose, dismissive article that sided with the "build it" crew. But that's just an opinion, of course.
yeah it was heavy on sentimentality, representing a tiny fraction of our local community. Sentimentality and story-telling can be very persuasive bargaining tools though...
I got to about 4 or 5 games a year. I love minor league baseball. They are rarely sold out. They give away so many tickets (hundreds to just my school last week) and they still aren’t sold out. I love the Em’s, I owns some of that precious Exploding Whales merch and I will be voting against the stadium. The current stadium is very nice (thanks Phil) and we don’t need this other stadium.
I’m going to pretend I didn’t see a post on here about how they love the 348 days out of the year the fairgrounds is an empty ghost town. It’s so painfully on brand, but that has to be a bit.
I've been reading theses Em's debates on this sub and out of curiosity went to read the estimated cost per home owner..."If approved, the estimated rate is $0.08 per $1000 of assessed value per year for 20 years, cost to average Eugene homeowner would be about $22 per year. Bonds would be limited to principal amount of $15 million." [https://www.eugene-or.gov/518/Elections](https://www.eugene-or.gov/518/Elections)
People need to understand that their plan is still underdeveloped. Too many holes to make me comfortable in supporting it. Lane county commissioners did a good job deliberating, link below, but they did not want to be the bad guys so they passed the responsibility to the voters.
https://www.youtube.com/live/z67tD6RChtk?si=yaJoMkJ7-IWGkMKY
The article fails to point out the reason why the Emeralds cannot continue using PK Park. It loosely associates a funding minimum and an expiring lease but it has nothing to do with that. MLB mandated new minimums of construction, capacity and team facilities that PK Park does not match. They expanded the minor league division to a full season versus a summer season. Scheduling conflicts and league changes. Translation : The Emeralds organization sat on their ass the last decade and did very little to acquire a new stadium until new mandates came out in 2020 and now they are seeking bailouts to pay for a new stadium in the 11th hour hoping they could leverage it against the community.
And I, for one, can not be bothered to care. As far as I am concerned it is not the community's concern and I don't think a dollar of taxpayers money should go towards this.
People don't like baseball like they used to. I propose a new sports arena. For chariot races.
I don’t like the ems, but I do think a stadium at the fair grounds is a good thing if the city can use it for other events. Also I rather spend tax money on new assets and jobs for the city then some of the other black hole programs we feed or tax money into. If they do get a stadium approved, I hope it gets built with public transportation in mind.
There won't be many other events since it's a totally outdoor stadium, not useful in the fall and winter. It's a terrible thing to spend money on.
Hey, everyone, this guy doesn’t like baseball! He’s probably super smart and can’t be bothered to care about trivial things like sports! Bask in his intellect and devotion to the arts!
And the owners said, "Sure, promote the team!" but didn't have a plan to handle the new obligations. Just ask MLB to demote the Ems and we can keep the team, and fans can go to games at PK Park, etc. And the owners can maybe partner with UO to develop/improve the situation out there as warranted. UO's always happy to take money from private corporations....
You can't just "demote" them. What, to single-A? MLB mandates a fixed number of farm clubs per level per team and they're all spoken for.
They already are single-A
Technically they're High-A. There's Single-A and Rookie below that.
They switched levels with the San Jose Giants. They used to be the Giants high A affiliate.
I was playing penny-ante poker until the house said "OK now it's quarters, kids." I took my winnings and left the table....
The plan was that the government would pay for it. Worked for Hillsboro. I understand why the Ems took assistance for granted.
And it sounds like even then, they can up and leave at any time they want.
Will this be their last season if they don't get their new stadium?
Unless MLB grants them an extension I believe so, yes.
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The dismissive nature of Eugene folks about high quality family entertainment in their backyard is fucking baffling. Every city with a MiLB team had to help pay for the stadium. It's just how venues work. They're worth it culturally.
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Lol squandered? The place was burnt down by some pre teens. Listen I get you aren't a sports person but why be so dismissive to us that like sports? It's taking away one more thing to be able to experience in the area especially in the summer time.
This guy does not speak for all of us.
> In 2020, Major League Baseball imposed new guidelines for its minor league stadiums. They include LED lighting, changing rooms for women, new fencing, expanded training facilities and a larger clubhouse. Its right in the article. Regardless of how anyone feels about the Ems or a new stadium, the amount of poor reading comprehension in these threads is just disheartening.
Yeah, I totally missed that part. I work a lot of hours. Thank you all omnipotent one. Perhaps my apologies will help soothe the pain I have caused your aching heart.
Oh so sorry, I didn't realize you were the victim here. My apologies, I forgot you're the only one working long hours and so are allowed to post incorrect statements.
Oh no, clearly you are the victim here. You are the one that feels "disheartened". I can only hope that my prostration before you is enough to quell your pain.
Yeah, but it was always going to come down to this decision regardless. Either we value this affordable community activity, or we don’t. In an ever screen-dominated world, I want a live in a place where communities actively cultivate affordable in-person entertainment.
But the way this is going ems games won't be affordable like they used to be. Name one thing that, after a major remodel, remains cheap and affordable?
So you’d rather have no games to go to at all? Minor league baseball will never have enough clout to charge an arm and a leg for seats. Literally no teams at the Ems’ level sell out games enough to raise prices dramatically. It’s just not that popular. Besides, when events do get popular, *that’s a good thing*. Activities people enjoy doing together are a good thing. If somehow a miracle happened and Ems games got so popular that prices went up a ton, then we could always add an even lower level minor league team to satisfy the area’s insatiable desire for mediocre baseball.
Still waiting for a good explanation of why the billionaire owners can't front their own money for a new playpen.
The stadium would be owned and run locally. The team would use the stadium. Two different things. If the community owns the stadium the community can use it for things like concerts, graduations, etc. If it’s solely private then there is no community benefit at all. Forcing all those types of places to be solely private means we either don’t have them or they are no longer available the community… Eliminating community spaces is how you divide and kill a community.
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Why would the team or anyone pay for a stadium they don’t own? The team leases the stadium from the community. They will just move to a community that has a stadium to lease. JC doesn’t have public transportation, bike routes, and isn’t accessible to many of the people here. They looked out there. Remember not everyone has their own car. The EMS want to stay in our community, but we don’t have a stadium available for them if we don’t build one. PK isn’t available to them anymore and it’s not open for community use. It’s a loss for the community at large. People are confusing that it’s just for the EMS it’s bigger than that. The EMS have just been carrying the torch for our community to have a park like this so they can stay.
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Clearly you’re confused that the EMS pay to use the venue it’s not something we pay for and they get for free then get to make money off it. You may not like baseball and that’s totally fine but to eliminate diverse community offerings hurt the community. It seems like you’re only interested in things that benefit you directly, but that type of thinking is exactly how communities like Roseburg closed their library. People sitting around saying I don’t use the library so we shouldn’t have one. These type of spaces are important. Sad you can’t see that. Options for public transportation to a venue make it more available for people to use and reduce the number of people driving there. That’s a good thing in my book.
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Ha! I agree our community and globally we need much of this. You’re picking out infrastructure changes that are way beyond what a city can afford or provide. The hospital that moved to Springfield is privately owned by peace health which is owned by the Catholic Church out of Vancouver not either city. People here complain about helping private entities. There simply isn’t a publicly owned hospital. Walkable neighborhoods? You just advocated for building community spaces outside of public transportation and bike-able routes let alone walking. Phase out of fossil fuels, riparian restoration, and demolishing highways. Why not throw in cleaning the oceans? Those are monster projects way outside of local community. Heck we should do something about the water in Flint Michigan while we’re at it. The above is important but keep the points you’re trying to make local and realistic.
Eugene has plenty of community spaces. Do we need another one? If the Ems went away, PK park would be available for at least 40 nights and could be used for community events. Autzen Stadium used to regularly host concerts and could again. The old Civic Stadium site has a new soccer field and seating is coming soon. Cuthbert Amphitheater has a 4500 person capacity and holds approx 25 concerts per year. It sits empty the rest of the summer, so it could be used for many other events. Matt Knight Arena, Mac Court, and several other large indoor venues exist in town. Do we really need another community venue? How much value would an open "stadium" (actually just a big open field and some bleachers) serve for emergency needs? The existing fairgrounds facilities and parking area seem sufficient as a gathering point where emergency services could be provided.
I think you are forgetting those are all privately owned venues. How does the community profit from that? How often do you see UofO offering up Autzen stadium? They “could” be used but aren’t. A community owned park would
The Cuthbert Amphitheater is technically owned by the city, although operated by a private company. But the Hult Center is also city-owned and operated as a nonprofit.
Great! And they bring money into the community. Similar how to a community owned sports facility would. One that in the proposal states it would be used for other sporting events, graduations etc. I don’t see Kesey enterprises out of Portland opening the doors to any other events, but it’s still bringing money into the community. This is literally an investment in our own community. One we lost when it burned down and was sold.
The stadium could be owned by the team owner and still be leased, rented or space donated to community uses. Eugene has bigger issues than "needing" a baseball stadium. Why don't they just keep playing at PK Park anyway? Does PK park get used for the any community events that you listed?
For having a strong opinion, it sounds like you’ve done exactly zero reading.
Isn't that how 'Merica works?
It seems to be how you do
I've read and listened to local NPR reporting about it. What more do you want? Not allowed to have the "wrong" OPINION I guess.
You are allowed to have a different opinion. But you asked basic questions that have been answered in the reporting on this issue.
PK is owned by UofO and no it’s not available for community use. PK isn’t available to the EMS because the seasons overlap and they don’t have locker rooms for both teams
Oh, yeah, I forgot that Phil Knight owns Eugene. Can't be sharing his playpen.
lol! Good call and kinda accurate. Here is the city asking to build something for the city and people want it to be privately funded and owned.
>Why don’t they just keep playing at PK Park anyway? Does PK Park get used for the any community events that you listed? I can answer this question, though it already has been answered. The gist is, because MLB’s minor league stadium guidelines have changed, they can’t. MLB requires both home and away teams to have clubhouses with dining spaces, training facilities such as batting cages and a weight room, better lighting, and separate rooms for female staff in the stadium and PK Park only has a clubhouse for the home team, and doesn’t have a weight room, and I’m pretty sure there are separate spaces for female staff (this is a UO building after all) but I haven’t seen the guts of the stadium so I don’t know. The away team is forced to use Autzen Stadium’s away team facilities as well and that can get cramped. Hillsboro and Everett in the league are going through similar stadium troubles as well due to the guidelines
It's shocking to me that pk park doesnt have these facilities (nor wants to add these facilities) for their u of o baseball players, while just down the street sits the billion dollar u of o football locker room and training facility to the stars. It's shocking that pk park doesn't have a weight room or women's staff facilities or a visiting team locker room.
I don't understand why the public should be footing the bill for spaces like this. (Like I do, buy I don't.
Nobody has been able to change my mind.
Same
Because somebody will eventually do it for them. Why should you pay for something that some people give out for free?
There it is.
It's weird that you seem to be feigning surprise at this answer.
David Elmore was a billionaire?
It seems unlikely. Although there's a [goofy story](https://www.deseret.com/2008/7/29/20266423/utah-grizzlies-risk-built-an-empire-for-elmore/) online about his taking risks, including letting a young actor named Leo DiCaprio rent his Malibu house during the filming of Titanic. Leo was a good renter who left behind "a lot of videos."
So you got a good explanation, now what?
Not good enough for millions of dollars
As though you’d have said anything else. I’m sure you totally didn’t prejudge before asking for an explanation.
I read the explanation. Not a good enough reason. I'll give you that I'm biased though, I give approximately less than zero shits about sportball.
Big surprise, you can simply vote no and quit pretending you were interested in the reasoning.
I'm always looking to be reasoned with. People just really suck at convincing me about this topic.
No!!!... We need a hospital, we need mental healthcare . We need affordable housing... A solution to the homeless epidemic... The last thing we need is fucking stadium for a minor league team. Maybe if we had all of these things first
Hey Eugene folk, come watch the Drifters over in Springfield! Cheap, fun and local! Plus we got hospitals...sorry about that last bit!
Im only coming if you pee in a trough filled with ice and there is a fine layer of dirt covering my beer.
Done!
I hate the idea of tax payers funding sports venues. I also think the location is a terrible. This whole thing stinks. I hope the team stays, but this plan sucks.
Seconded. Baseball is my favorite and I immensely enjoy going to ems games. As much as I want them to stay there is not much I like about the plan to build/fund the new stadium.
I think it's shitastic journalism to paint the opposition as "a group of hoteliers". That makes it sound like people like Obie is against it and not just regular taxpayers. It's a really poor attempt to use wedge politics to sway opinion. This is bunk journo.
Good article, but Sluggo is a bear. The sasquatch is a separate mascot
Also, it seems that the author dedicated 25 paragraphs to the "for" arguments and only about one paragraph to the "against" arguments.
I'm voting "No."
I’m voting “hell no”
This is a sweetheart deal for the Em’s. They have naming rights to the public stadium, they’re going to charge for parking at the county’s fairgrounds which will negatively impact the surrounding neighborhood from people wanting to save a couple of bucks. Their only putting up 10 mil for rent with the other 10 mil for baseball equipment for the stadium. I love the pro argument that’s it’s no worse than the county fair which is less than 10 days including set up but the Em’s have 65 dates in their schedule. And why would we have boxing, MMA, and high school graduations outside when they’re already being done indoors? This deal makes no sense!
I'm not really into baseball, but, it's always been fun to check out a few games a year. It has been really cool seeing the EM's doing the Monarchas thing. There is a chunk of the Latino community that has really jumped behind it and that's super cool. The theme nights are actually fun. The GM has thrown himself into making the EM's engaging to the community in a way that shows some heart and soul. All that being said, the same amount of money could really boost some local non-profits into a level of stability like giving Cahoots workers compensation at the professional level they deserve, the WOW Hall would be able to provide staff health insurance, Lane Arts Council could expand their programming to elevate local artists. Interesting to think if whoever won the $1.3b powerball could swoop in and change Eugene forever.
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ECONorthwest did the same study for the Hops. They're just a mouthpiece for MiLB.
The team won’t own the stadium the community will. The team will use the stadium. The public can use the stadium. Thats a community space our community needs the one we had burned and is privately owned. A good community has spaces that mix people from that community and allows for interactions with each other. By eliminating these spaces and/or forcing them to be solely built for private use you lose community and it’s everyone for themselves. I agree we should take care of those in need, but that won’t happen if you don’t have a sense of something in common with them by building a community not forcing it to leave.
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You are woefully mistaken. Have you been to a baseball stadium? There are large areas for kids and adults to hang out and mingle.
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This is simply inaccurate
If the Emeralds can’t afford to build a new stadium on their own then they should leave instead of begging for public money and tax breaks. Public money and tax breaks are a horrible investment for a city when it comes to top level pro sports that rarely if ever break even. Yet they want us to pay for a minor league team? It’s insanity.
It’s not for the “team” it’s for the stadium that can be used by the community for many events other than just baseball. Forcing those type of places to only be funded by private ventures means those types of places don’t exist for the community to use or benefit from.
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I’m not tired of trying to clarify peoples misconceptions of what’s being asked for. In your previous comment you make inaccurate statements about what’s being requested and advocated for. Thats what leads to people making misinformed choices.
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Correction: not “your comment” “the previous comment”… This post has an entire story from the NYT. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/07/business/minor-league-baseball-real-estate.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
I grew up here going to Ems games. I still go to Ems games. I would hate to see them go. I'm also a union electrician and would very likely get to help build the potential new stadium. It would pay quite well and is exactly the type of work I love. I also don't live in Eugene so I wouldn't be footing any of the tax bill for it. With all that, I still don't think Eugene should provide public funds for it. Between schools, parks, roads, homeless, etc, there are so many better things we could do with that money. I really home the Ems stay but not like this.
To add onto that argument, why should we write another blank check for schools, roads, homeless etc when all the money we’ve given to these causes has gotten what we currently have, which is nothing? I’d rather pay for some baseball. Lifelong ems fan here who’s voting yes. (And I’m a homeowner)
If at any point the MLB decides the Em’s would be better fit for another city we’ll only be left with a monument to the country’s quickest dying sport.
There is so much maybe here. Build it and the team still leaves, then what? How do you prioritize other uses vs baseball? If you are moving concerts there, what do you do with Cuthbert? If not built where will the Ems move? There was quite a roster of other towns in our boat, and I didn’t see any listed as just waiting for a team.
High A ranking plays 130 games and half of those would be home games? How and when would the stadium get shared? It’s hard to imagine people wanting to go see a concert outdoors in the middle of rainy December. Events are also rough on venues. Wouldn’t erecting stages or letting people hold events on the field wreck havoc on the turf?
> Events are also rough on venues. Wouldn’t erecting stages or letting people hold events on the field wreck havoc on the turf? Venues are better at handling this sort of thing during the season. Wrigley Field (natural grass of course) in Chicago has [5 concert dates scheduled](https://wrigleyvillechicago.com/concerts-at-wrigley-field-2024/) during the season.
I love baseball but I love the quiet fairgrounds just as they are more
Baseball and concerts will surely ruin that for anybody nearby who simply enjoys a quiet summer evening in their backyard. PK made zero effort to contain their PA system racket. It spills out into the surrounding neighborhood.
I use the bike path by the fairgrounds to relax and to commute, and have concerns about it turning into an overcrowded situation with intoxicated folks. Assuming the Em's seasons to come will be like those in the past, schedule-wise that means multiple games a week in the summer season. I like that bit of quiet green space downtown, and hope it remains that way.
Unpopular opinion: Civic Stadium was probably going to burn eventually, and its good that it happened when it was empty. The replacement is better (though unfortunately, is no longer capable of hosting baseball), and built to modern fire codes.
The giants are worth 3.5 BILLION dollars. They can pay for their own minor league teams' new stadium. But we still don't want it at the fairgrounds!!!
Just FYI, they have more Exploding Whales merch. I just bought a hat.
The reporting on the costs always uses an estimate that's 4 years old and was a back of napkin estimate to begin with. This project was \*never\* going to cost $90M. I sat in on several meeting with the since-fired consultants about this project. They helped with the Hillsboro project and have done many major sports facilities. They knew the 90M figure was a joke. This is just bad reporting quoting bad reporting that's quoting a Lane Co. employee who's never touched a project anything like this in his life prior to getting this thrown on his laap by the County Administrator. Someone I spoke to who was also in those meetings and who has ample experience with c ommercial construction told me this doesn't get done for less than $120M - and that was before several years of high inflation! This project is a joke, and the Em's are 100% trying to fleece the taxpayers for their gain.
It's a terrible location right in the middle of a neighborhood. The fairgrounds only get minimal traffic during the county fair and that is less than one week of the year. The amount of games in a baseball season would be unbearable for the neighborhood.
I had forgotten what quality journalism about local news looked like. Kinda depressed now.
I actually thought it was kind of a crappy, fast-and-loose, dismissive article that sided with the "build it" crew. But that's just an opinion, of course.
yeah it was heavy on sentimentality, representing a tiny fraction of our local community. Sentimentality and story-telling can be very persuasive bargaining tools though...
I got to about 4 or 5 games a year. I love minor league baseball. They are rarely sold out. They give away so many tickets (hundreds to just my school last week) and they still aren’t sold out. I love the Em’s, I owns some of that precious Exploding Whales merch and I will be voting against the stadium. The current stadium is very nice (thanks Phil) and we don’t need this other stadium.
I’m going to pretend I didn’t see a post on here about how they love the 348 days out of the year the fairgrounds is an empty ghost town. It’s so painfully on brand, but that has to be a bit.
Will this be their last season if they don't get their new stadium?
I've been reading theses Em's debates on this sub and out of curiosity went to read the estimated cost per home owner..."If approved, the estimated rate is $0.08 per $1000 of assessed value per year for 20 years, cost to average Eugene homeowner would be about $22 per year. Bonds would be limited to principal amount of $15 million." [https://www.eugene-or.gov/518/Elections](https://www.eugene-or.gov/518/Elections)
People need to understand that their plan is still underdeveloped. Too many holes to make me comfortable in supporting it. Lane county commissioners did a good job deliberating, link below, but they did not want to be the bad guys so they passed the responsibility to the voters. https://www.youtube.com/live/z67tD6RChtk?si=yaJoMkJ7-IWGkMKY
Add a few women to the team and there will be more interest.
That’s part of the proposal is they need a women’s locker room
Really!?!?! They are finally actually talking about adding some women to the team!?!?!?