| Subject: Baseball in Kankakee in 2004 |
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Davey
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Date Posted: 00:12:24 09/06/02 Fri
Wonder if this will give the Cheetahs any competition? Is Richard Clark any relation to the Old GM Gerry Clark?
http://www.daily-journal.com/content/?id=11377
Kankakee's quest to land a Mid-States League baseball franchise looks better than ever and the spokesman for the nine-member feasibility group is confident stadium construction will begin in spring 2003.
Richard Clark, the group's spokesman, wouldn't say the franchise is 100 percent set for Kankakee as the league's commissioner said a week ago, but did say "it's very much alive. It certainly looks better than it has in a long time.''
League commissioner Steve Spielman said play is scheduled to begin in June 2004 with six teams. The hope is to expand the league to eight teams by the following summer.
The league is planning franchises in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan. Spielman does not want the league to go beyond eight teams.
While Clark said some members of the feasibility group are likely to invest in the team, the door is open for community members to invest as well. Interested people should contact Clark at 932-9752.
"We would like to make this a community affair'' similar to the community-owned Green Bay Packers of the National Football League, he said. "The more people that are a part of it, the better this will be.''
The investment group would require an annual operating budget of about $500,000. The budget would support a 23-man roster, traveling, advertising and stadium needs.
The operating funds would not be used for stadium construction. The stadium would cost between $1.5 million to $3 million to build, Spielman said. Clark said the cost would be closer to $3 million than the $1.5 million figure.
"We have some very hard decisions that have to be made in the very near future,'' Clark said.
Clark did confirm that Interstate 57's 308 exit on the city's south side would be the location for the ballpark.
Mid-States League officials are planning a 72-game schedule to be played in June, July and August. Other communities that have committed or are nearly committed to joining the league are Kenosha, Wis., Valparaiso, Ind. and McHenry County.
The Kankakee group had initially investigated joining the independent Frontier League, but franchise fees for becoming a league member were nearly $650,000. Mid-States franchise fees are about $50,000.
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