Baseball stadium may get new owner | News

Robin Roberts Stadium, the century-old baseball stadium on the city’s north end, has been a political hot potato for the last several years but appears to be on the cusp of new ownership. The ownership of the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes contends the facility has been poorly maintained and has become an embarrassment to the community.

The Springfield Park District board counters that it spends hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to maintain and improve the facility. For months, lawyers have been meeting behind closed doors trying to hammer out an agreement to end the Park District’s ownership of the facility.

Derek Harms, executive director of the Springfield Park District, said state law prohibits ceding the stadium to a business or nonprofit. But it can transfer ownership to another governmental entity.

One proposal is to have the Park District transfer ownership of the stadium to the city of Springfield. The city would then transfer the facility to the Friends of Robin Roberts Stadium, a newly formed nonprofit organization with a close relationship to the Horseshoes.

“My understanding is that the city wouldn’t own that building for more than a minute,” said Sean Dickerson, an incoming board member of the nonprofit.

Dickerson says the three entities appear on the cusp of agreement. And park board trustee Kris Theilen said he anticipates a deal within the next two or three weeks.

“Once they reach an agreement, I think the Park Board can have an emergency meeting within 48 hours and approve it,” he said.

While Jamie Toole and Melissa Gaynor, the Lucky Horseshoes managers and part of a consortium of owners,, have been the most vocal critics of how the Park Board has managed the stadium, they have not been directly involved in the closed-door negotiations.

Toole said one possibility is for the Horseshoes to enter into a 20-year lease if the nonprofit takes ownership.

“I think there are good people on the Park Board that maybe don’t understand the day-to-day of all these facilities,” Toole said. “My position for four years has been the Park District has too many facilities and not enough resources.”

By giving up the stadium, he said the board can free up money to spend on other park facilities.

“They say they spend around $250,000 to $300,000 a year on Robin Roberts, with the utilities, other things and personnel. So, by moving it over, they can save that $300,000 and get this facility off their books,” Toole Said. “There’s clearly some real need at other recreational facilities around the community that aren’t getting mowed and aren’t properly taken care of.”

Toole added that he believes the Park District lacks the expertise to manage a baseball stadium and is more oriented toward traditional parks.

“I don’t think that the Park District is suited for recreational programming and (managing this) facility,” he said. “I think their botanical garden is beautiful. Erin’s Pavilion? Beautiful. There are some real wins for that Park District. I do not think being in facilities like (Robin Roberts) matches up with what they’re good at.

“And that’s not disrespectful. If you gave me the botanical gardens, all the flowers would die because I have no idea how to keep them going. But I do know how to program a ballpark. And I think they underestimate the importance of this venue to people,” Toole said.

Harms takes exception to this conclusion.

“We’ve managed the stadium for over 20 years,” he said. “The stadium’s in good shape. We have made significant improvements to the facility since the Shoes have been there,” he said. “We have staff that are specialized in maintaining ball fields. Remember, we don’t just have one stadium, we have over 40 baseball diamonds throughout the community, too. So, we’ve got the equipment. We’ve got the specialized staff. And we are able to do it.”

As for Harms’ contention that Robin Roberts is in “good shape,” Toole disagrees.

He noted that the stadium frequently has electrical and lighting failures, trash and debris regularly go uncollected, it is noncompliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the field is in desperate need of improvements.

Harms countered that the Park District has made major investments in the stadium, but he said it lacks the resources to provide everything the Horseshoes want.

“We are not in a position right now to put millions of dollars in improvements for artificial turf,” he said. “We do not desire to raise taxes, but I do want to make it very clear that we continue to manage and maintain the stadium.”

While the private negotiations between lawyers appear to be making progress, the public discourse is generating more heat than light.

“I’ve heard they’re disappointed that we have made things public,” Toole said. “Unfortunately, we spent a full year being very quiet and working behind the scenes. About a month ago, we just got to the point where we felt like we were making zero progress. And it was very frustrating because in my opinion, we’re offering them a phenomenal deal to get out from underneath this venue.”

Park board members were mum about details of the ongoing negotiations.

“We have been instructed by our lawyer that we are in very delicate, three-way negotiations and that park board members should not comment publicly on the details,” Park Board trustee Theilen said.

Longtime park board president Leslie Sgro declined comment and referred all questions to Harms.

At a park board meeting earlier this month, 30 people came in a show of solidarity for ending the political logjam.

One of those attending was Amanda Johnson, a north-end resident who teaches high school Spanish in Chatham and attends games with her sons who are 3 and 6.

“I just want to say we love Robin Roberts,” she said. “We love spending summers there with our boys to see baseball and be engaged. If it went away, where would these kids see older kids playing baseball at this level?”