More details revealed about proposed Leland baseball team
LELAND, NC (WWAY) — We’re continuing to learn more about a baseball stadium being proposed for Leland.
A press conference was held Tuesday morning at the Leland Cultural Arts Center providing details about the Brunswick County baseball club.
Renderings of the stadium and surrounding sites were revealed at the meeting.
“Back last summer, the ownership of the Texas Rangers and I made a trip here to the region to meet with the town and express our interest in bringing professional baseball and a stadium to this region,” said Rev Entertainment President Sean Decker during the press conference.
The proposal would include a County-owned professional sports stadium with approximately 3,500 fixed seats and a flexible capacity to hold around 6,000 seats.
According to details revealed at the press conference, the team will likely be a new team, not pulled from somewhere else. It will also be a Single-A or Independent Team.
A stadium that will cost millions to fund and whether that would be on the taxpayer’s dime has been a point of contention with residents.
Gary Vidmar with the Town of Leland addressed that concern in the meeting by saying
“It’s important that the public knows that we’re not going to go with a bond and we’re not considering using current public tax funds to fund the project. In addition to that, we’re talking lease arrangements with the baseball folks as well as sales tax from the entertainment components, as well as other potential revenue streams from the entire development.”
When asked about the baseball teams long term commitment to the area, Sean Decker was adamant about being a part of the growth and funding.
“Our commitment is that whatever the cost of the stadium is, the town and the county bare, we’ll match every one of those dollars with development around it. So, whatever the stadium cost, we’ll call it x, we’ll spend that same number x in development around it,” said Decker. \
Traffic studies and evaluations are planned for traffic concerns. The stadium is also planned to host more than baseball.
But a minor league team wouldn’t be the only thing in this location.
The stadium itself will only consist of about 20 acres of the 1,400 property leaving the other land likely for other ventures.
“We’ve looked at hotel or convenient type space, retail, restaurant type space around that. Really creating and economic driver around that,” said Brunswick County Deputy Manager Hayes Brigman.
The website for the proposed stadium can be found linked below.
