Fredericksburg will get another swing at baseball

BASEBALL IN THE 'BURG TIMELINE

1866: First recreational baseball club is organized in June 1866 and called the Fredericksburg Base Ball Club. A field is developed on the grounds of Kenmore. The league expands in the 1870s to include playing games against other localities.

1908: Fredericksburg gets its first professional baseball team, the Fredericksburg White Sox. Home games during the first season are played at the Athletic Grounds (located near what is today Riverside Drive and Fall Hill Avenue on the west side of U.S. 1). The team's first season record: 42–18. Due to the success and popularity of the team, the Hanover Ball Park Company is founded to build a new baseball park downtown, off Hanover Street near the intersection with Kenmore Avenue on what is today Mill Race Commons. Hanover Park opens Sept. 21, 1908 and is used for other sports as well, including ice skating in the winter. Concerts also are held there.

1923: Hanover Park has become outdated. On March 28, 1923, a charter is granted for the new Gouldman Baseball Park, between Washington Avenue on the west, Prince Edward Street on the east, Pitt Street on the south and the canal on the north. Winchester Street terminated at the park boundaries (today it extends to the canal). The field is in use during the 1923 season. The Sox continue to play at Gouldman Park until the team disbands in the 1930s.

2012: Rappahannock Baseball Initiative-Virginia, a group of staff and elected officials from the Fredericksburg area, works to attract an independent minor league team to the region. Paul Akers, then-editorial page editor of The Free Lance–Star, is credited as being instrumental in the push for baseball. He had written a series of columns advocating for a minor league team as a way to unite the community.

2013: The owner of the Single-A Hagerstown Suns, a minor league affiliate of the Washington Nationals, seeks a new stadium and says the team could begin playing in Fredericksburg as soon as the 2015 season if City Council agrees to issue as much as $30 million in bonds to finance construction of a publicly owned stadium off Interstate 95 in Celebrate Virginia South. After city residents speak out against a publicly financed stadium, a new plan emerges in August: The Suns would partner with New Jersey-based Diamond Nation to build a $29 million stadium and a five-field baseball/softball complex. The city would pay for an 1,800-space parking lot at a cost of about $10 million. In September, City Council approves a draft of the plan that includes more than $1 million per year in tax incentives for the stadium group.

2014: In August 2014, the partners seeking to build a baseball stadium announce they are short on funds and need help with the project. They later offer to return 3 percent of the gross revenue from the entire complex for the first decade of operations and 1.5 percent of the gross revenue thereafter to the city in exchange for $14 million in up-front funding. Near the end of September, Diamond Nation announces it would finance the entire cost of the project. By November, the deal between the Suns and Diamond Nation has fallen apart. The Suns then start negotiating a deal with Spotsylvania County that ultimately fizzles out in August 2015.

2017: In a July 2017 interview, Potomac Nationals owner Art Silber says he is open to moving the team to the Fredericksburg area. The team had been negotiating a deal for a new stadium in Prince William County, but those talks stalled.

June 26, 2018: City Council announces a non-binding agreement with the Potomac Nationals to bring the team to Fredericksburg. The club would build a 5,000-seat stadium in Celebrate Virginia and the city would pay $1.05 million a year to be an anchor tenant and use it for concerts and other events when no baseball games are scheduled. 

July 10, 2018: Council will decide whether to approve the agreement.

Source: Dovetail Cultural Resource Group, FLS archives

DEAL AT A GLANCE

The Potomac Nationals are considering relocating to Fredericksburg. Details of the agreement between the city and the team include:

THE BASICS

• A $35 million, 5,000-seat multi-purpose stadium would be built in Celebrate Virginia South
• "Fredericksburg" will be part of the new team name
• Club cannot negotiate with other localities during 120-day study period
• April 2020 is the target date to open
• City would have use of multi-purpose stadium when games are not being played
• Stadium can used by schools, parks and recreation and private groups and reconfigured to accommodate soccer, field hockey, flag football, an ice rink, concerts and other events.
• Facility would include meeting rooms, restaurant, suites, party rooms, family-friendly activities and full catering services.
• Would create about 20 full-time jobs and 200 seasonal jobs.

FINANCES

• Stadium would be privately financed, designed, built and owned by the club, with no up-front contributions, borrowing or bonds issued by the city
• City would pay $1.05 million a year for 30 years, which would be recovered through stadium taxes and revenues
• Stadium is projected to generate $700,000 annually in property taxes, admissions, sales, meals, personal property and business license taxes
• Officials project $250,000 in revenue to be generated through use of stadium on non-game days
• Silver Cos. will contribute $100,000 annually to support project.

ATTENDANCE/TRAFFIC

• Projected average game attendance of 4,100
• Officials anticipate games would draw 1,367 vehicles
• Existing roads could handle increased traffic
• Most games will be on nights and weekends from April through September, outside the heaviest rush-hour commute.

More information: fredericksburgbaseball.com

Source: City of Fredericksburg