Minor League Baseball Stadium Passesq

[ParksAndRecRick]

It's been a wild time the past two weeks in Grand Prairie, with extensive media coverage over the propsed minor league baseball stadium. But, as always, the voters get the last and most important say. And they said, YES to a $15 million dollar minor league baseball stadium. The Stadium will house Grand Prariie's team in the American Association, the same league of the Fort Worth Cats.

Construction will begin in two weeks and the stadium will open for the 2008 baseball season.

In addition, citizens overwhelming passed a new $15 million dollar Senior Citizen facility, destined to be the finest in the Metroplex.

It is all GRAND on the Praririe.

ParksAndRecRick

[Greenblood94]

It would be interesting to see what impact the Texas Rangers' involvement in the issue had on the vote. The issue was flying pretty much under the radar of everyone in the Metroplex OUTSIDE Grand Prairie, until it was announced that the Rangers had given $30,000 to a group working to defeat the measure.

Rangers President Jeff Cogen went on Randy Galloway's ESPN Radio show a couple days before the vote and basically made a fool of himself in trying to defend the Rangers position of not wanting the Grand Prairie stadium. His points sounded really stupid to me, especially when you consider there are two other minor league franchises, including the Rangers' own Class AA farm team in Frisco, in the area. If the Rangers are worried that the 3,000 people who would probably attend the games in Grand Prairie (many of whom would not be going to a Rangers game the same night even without a choice) will adversely affect their product, then something's seriously wrong at Rangers Ballpark.

Just wondering how much of the victory can be attributed to a "Rangers backlash". I don't think the measure would have been defeated without the publicity surrounding the Rangers involvement, but these days one can never tell.

Congrats to the citizens of Grand Prairie for helping their city add to its growth.

[KRAM1]

BooHoo to the Texas Rangers!!!! I say....WAY TO GO GP! You want a minor league park and team...go get 'em! Have you been to a Texas Ranger game lately...BORRRRRRRRING! Too expensive, too long, too hard to get in and out of the park, taks a loan from the bank to enjoy a couple of beers and dogs! Do yourself a favor and go watch the Roughriders in Frisco or one of the local summer "wooden bat" league teams...it's great baseball, and you aren't subjected to the highest paid bunch of under-achievers in all of professional sports...the Texas Rangers baseball team! O.K., so maybe they are the biggest under-achievers, but....close enough for me!

Spend your money at the Roughrider or FC Dallas games this summer and you will have a much better experience and stil have some $$$$$ in your pockets when you leave...very family friendly atmospheres too!

[Quoner]

BooHoo to the Texas Rangers!!!! I say....WAY TO GO GP! You want a minor league park and team...go get 'em! Have you been to a Texas Ranger game lately...BORRRRRRRRING! Too expensive, too long, too hard to get in and out of the park, taks a loan from the bank to enjoy a couple of beers and dogs! Do yourself a favor and go watch the Roughriders in Frisco or one of the local summer "wooden bat" league teams...it's great baseball, and you aren't subjected to the highest paid bunch of under-achievers in all of professional sports...the Texas Rangers baseball team! O.K., so maybe they are the biggest under-achievers, but....close enough for me!

Spend your money at the Roughrider or FC Dallas games this summer and you will have a much better experience and stil have some $$$$$ in your pockets when you leave...very family friendly atmospheres too!

Take it a step further - grill out and hire 18 elementary school kids to play baseball in your backyard. That will show those damn athletes doing sports as a career what fun really is!