Bell Tolls For Memorial Stadium
Bottom of the ninth for Memorial Stadium
After Wizards leave, facility could play host to concerts, monster trucks, arenacross
Link (GFWBW)
“The Wizards are scheduled to play their last regular-season game at Memorial Stadium on Coliseum Boulevard Aug. 28. The possibility of a September playoff game remains, but by Aug. 20 it was remote.
Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, which runs the county-owned Memorial Stadium, expects to begin the facility’s demolition in July 2009. Coliseum general manager Randy Brown said the organization has committed to keep the stadium in playing condition for the Wizards until the team moves into the new downtown Fort Wayne stadium at Harrison Square.”
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“After demolition, the Memorial Stadium site will become additional parking for the coliseum’s arena and convention center. Brown said he had not thought about whether there would be any ceremony or celebration before demolition begins.
Brown said once Harrison Square’s on-time completion is assured and the Wizards begin playing there, other events will be scheduled at the old facility during its last few months.”
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“Brown also said the coliseum management is considering staging monster truck and Arenacross events at the old ballpark. Monster truck shows have been staged inside the coliseum many times before. Arenacross, a motorcycle racing series that is known for its large jumps, also was at the coliseum during the last two years.”
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“After the last game, fans will be allowed to run the bases as they usually do. Limmer said they also will be given an opportunity to throw a “final pitch” from the pitcher’s mound. Front-office personnel considered having a ceremony to turn off the lights, but wanted the fans more actively involved.
“We wanted something that people could actually be part of,” Limmer said. “This is not the end of the story, it’s the beginning of a new chapter for baseball in Fort Wayne.””
Memorial Stadium did what it was supposed to do: bring a professional baseball team back to Fort Wayne.
Now it’s time to move that team to a proper home.
What a tragic waste of tax revenues for Allen County. And those dollars wasted are going right to Atlanta GA. Real smart, Fort Wayne!
JBK. Your comment that the dollars are going right to Atlanta GA would only be true if this project it profitable. I guess I’m ok with that.
Luke - You don’t think that Hardball Capital is going to profit from their “management contract” for the new stadium? THEY ARE NOT PAYING ONE CENT IN CASH for anything in this unnecessary new stadium. From the baseball team - they get all the profits up to an unreachable “paid attendance” and even then, the way the contract is set up, any profits to the city go into the “Maintenance Fund” which can only be used for stadium upkeep. So just who do you think is going to profit from this project? IT SURE ISN”T THE FORT WAYNE TAXPAYERS! We will be paying for the next 25 years or more. And then we will own an obsolete baseball stadium and some other group like Hardball will convince our city government to build another new one or they will depart (if they haven’t already gone).