Commerce City – This fast-growing city, soon to be a home for professional soccer, now wants to take a swing at pro baseball.
Plans are in the works to bring an American Association minor-league team to Commerce City with an opening-day pitch scheduled for May 2008.
Construction of a 5,000-seat stadium for the team is part of the development that includes a new recreation center, meeting rooms and a baseball field complex, officials say.
National Sports Services, a sports consulting firm that manages and owns sports facilities and franchises, signed a memorandum of understanding with Commerce City this week, signaling the start of talks that will hammer out the details of the “public-private partnership.”
National Sports Services is the same group that attempted a similar arrangement in Aurora, but that deal was scuttled because of high development costs, said Allen Fears, chief financial officer of National Sports Services.
Still, the consulting firm believes the metro area can support minor-league baseball. It not only plans to launch a franchise in Commerce City, but it will also try to bring a team to Jefferson County.
But first, details have to be hammered out before calls of “play ball” will be heard in Commerce City. Those include the location of the ballpark as well as the cost of the venture.
“We’ll see what evolves,” said Commerce City spokesman Ross Hilker.
A recent survey showed that residents want a new rec center in the northern edge of the city, which is the likely location of the ballfield, said acting city manager Gregg Clements.
The city would lease the stadium and team office to the baseball franchise and would collect revenue on sales taxes from the stadium’s concessions, Fears said.
Businesses and restaurants are likely to emerge around the stadium while the city gains notoriety for having a pro-sports franchise, proponents said.
“It’s a matter of civic pride,” Fears said. “Just having a minor-league baseball team in the city, you just can’t put a price tag on that.”
A $50 million soccer stadium is already being built in Commerce City to house the Colorado Rapids, a Major League Soccer team. The stadium, expected to open April 7, will be the centerpiece of Prairie Gateway, a mixed-use development east of Quebec Street along East 56th Avenue.
Although soccer and baseball seasons overlap, Fears said he doesn’t see much of a conflict between the two franchises.
“There are lots of households in the metro area where children play both soccer and baseball,” Fears said. “And Denver has done quite well in supporting four major professional sports.”
The Commerce City team would be the first minor-league baseball team in the Denver metro area since the Triple-A Denver Zephyrs in 1992.
A deal to bring a minor-league team to Aurora fell apart earlier this year after hitting a series of development and design delays. The cost of building the stadium ballooned from $8 million to $11 million.
“The project wasn’t feasible,” Fears said.
Still, the goal is to bring at least two minor-league teams to the metro area, Fears said. The company is eyeing Jefferson County as the second location after a team finds a home in rapidly expanding Commerce City.
From 2003 to 2004, Commerce City saw its population jump nearly 15 percent to 30,000 people, according to U.S. census figures. The city is adding about 1,800 houses a year.
The baseball team will be a member of the American Association, an independent minor league formed a year ago. It includes 10 teams, with a team from Lincoln, Neb., the closest to Colorado.
This past season, the American Association drew 7.5 million fans for the second consecutive year, according to the league. It’s not likely stadium construction will require a vote of the city’s residents, Fears said.
“But, of course, the devil is in the details,” he added.
Minor-league baseball enjoyed record attendance of more than 41 million in 2005 while franchise values increased and league-wide profit neared $45 million, according to Sports Business Journal.
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
