Minor-league baseball close to Morgantown home
March 26, 2013 by Mike CasazzaThe intent of the news conference in the Jerry West Lounge Tuesday morning was to push the base-runner deeper into scoring position so the winning run can be driven in here soon.
The TIF district to fund construction for a new WVU baseball stadium is past the Senate and in the House Judiciary Committee with a vote waiting there, maybe this week, before it goes to the full House. From there, it has to be approved by Earl Ray Tomblin and then WVU’s Board of Governors.
I do wonder why this was necessary if things were so certain to end the way they all wanted it to end. But I’m told it’s got a very good chance to get thumbs up everywhere and that there could be a minor-league team, probably from Jamestown, N.Y., playing home games in Granville next summer.
A lot has to happen, though, and the particulars of the stadium remain unknown. There are plans. You won’t find someone involved in this process who doesn’t have a list of specs and features both desired and required. Until the thing gets passed and all the sides sit down with a criteria developer to put together a plan, no one knows how much it it will cost.
It could look like this:
The bond capacity for the TIF plan is $16 million. Construction could cost $18 million and, let’s be honest, even more. If so, WVU and the New York Penn League will have to find a way to handle the rest.
Nevertheless, people are pumped to play ball …
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