Growing up in South Dakota, Donald “Deke” Karras used to dream of playing major league baseball.
Owning a team would be second best, he used to think.
The latter fantasy is now a reality.
Karras, vice president of taxes at local gold giant Newmont Mining Corp., and his wife, Donna, are now partial owners of the independent minor- league baseball team coming to Aurora next year.
And it was all her idea.
After hearing about plans for the yet-to-be-named franchise on the local news, she suggested they invest in the team.
“He’s just such a baseball fanatic,” she said. “He’s always talked about being involved in a baseball team at some level.”
So Karras tracked down National Sports Services, the company that is launching the team and funding construction of an $8 million ballpark near Buckley Air Force Base.
The Greenwood Village sports consulting and development firm said it plans to raise $3 million to get the Aurora franchise up and running. Most of the money will come from The Owners Suite Fund, a venture-capital fund created by company principals to own and operate more than 10 minor-league sports franchises nationwide. Aurora will be the group’s first franchise.
“Our role here is to take an ownership position where we take management of the team,” president Tyler Tysdal said. “Then we bring in a local owner who is the heart and soul and is the visible owner to the community.”
That’s a role the Karrases are more than happy to fill.
“This is something I’ve wanted since I was a little kid,” said Karras, 51, who plays in the Colorado Over 50 Baseball League and has attended the Colorado Rockies Fantasy Camp for the past seven years.
The Karrases declined to say how much they paid for a stake in the team, but say they plan to be active co-owners.
“I hope to be there for all the games, go on road trips with them occasionally, maybe take batting practice every once in a while,” Karras said. “If I were 25 years younger, I’d try out.”
But he’s not giving up his day job. Karras, who has spent the past 12 years at Newmont and manages a team of 30 employees worldwide, said the company supports his outside business venture.
Minor league baseball franchises are a solid investment, said sports economist Rodney Fort of Washington State University.
“Minor league baseball is big money – real big money,” he said. “It attracts serious investors.”
National Sports Services has contracted with Minneapolis-based Adolfson & Peterson Construction, which has an office in Aurora, to build the new ballpark. Construction on the stadium, which will seat about 6,500 fans, is to begin in August.
The Aurora team will join the independent Central Baseball League, which did not return calls for comment Monday, starting in May 2006.
The Karrases are already gearing up for opening day.
“I just can’t wait to hear them say ‘Play ball’ for the first time,” Donna Karras said.
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-820-1592 or jdunn@denverpost.com.
