El Paso goes ahead with stadium idea; blogger blasts ‘no-compete’ contract feature
Rio Grande Digital
El Paso city councilors voted Tuesday to move ahead with a plan to build a $50 million baseball stadium on the Downtown parcel now occupied by City Hall and the Insights Science Museum, reports the El Paso Times.
Says the Times article:
Council authorized the city manager to sign a “term sheet,” or draft agreement, between the city and MountainStar Sports Group LLC to build the stadium. Under the proposal, the 7,000- to 9,000-seat stadium would be built where City Hall is now located and would open as soon as the 2014 baseball season.
The project is subject to voters approving an increase in the city’s hotel occupancy tax in November.
The proposed contract includes a non-compete clause that state’s the city will not extend its agreement with the current tenant of Cohen Stadium, the El Paso Diablos.
Read the El Paso Times article here.
Meanwhile, El Paso political blogger Jaime Abeytia, while applauding the stadium idea, criticized the no-compete clause in the contract.
Wites Abeytia:
The new stadium will mark the end of the Diablos anyway. They will not be able to compete, so there is no reason to forbid them from competing. The facility will be bigger, nicer, newer, and have more and better talent on the field. The Triple A team will be a better product.
Read Abeytia’s Lion Star Blog post here.
