It’s my Parting Shot to follow up on my thoughts from last Thursday regarding major facilities and what Saskatoon has and hasn’t got…..
Back on Thursday, I was responding to a plan proposed two weeks ago to build a 3,500-seat baseball stadium just north of Regina’s downtown for the Western Canada Baseball League’s Regina Red Sox, backed by Living Sky Sports and Entertainment…the same people behind building a soccer facility for a Canadian Premier League franchise on the site of Marquis Downs at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon. Today, it’s time for my explanation, as I see it, as to why there isn’t an apparent need to have a W-C-B-L franchise or similar new ballpark in Saskatoon ahead of a soccer stadium!
Remember the Saskatoon Legends?! They played in the ill-fated Canadian Baseball League for just over half a season in the summer of 2003!
The Legends killed the appetite for higher level baseball in Saskatoon! They started with huge expectations and made lots of promises, only to have the league owner pull the plug from out of left field during the season!
A lot of corporate businesses were left with lots of unpaid bills from the team and soured the city’s corporate community on the sport! That corporate attitude hurt the Yellow Jackets big time…that’s why there isn’t a Western Canada Baseball League team here anymore!
Plus, Cairns Field (pictured) wasn’t a good facility at the time. I haven’t been back to that place since I had to tear down the broadcast equipment after being told there would be no game that night in 2003. But, a slab of concrete for a grandstand that doesn’t wrap around the back-stop…as it does at Bob Van Impe Stadium or Joe Gallagher softball Park…wasn’t conducive to drawing large crowds! If that’s been rectified with all the facility upgrades to the Gordie Howe Sports Complex, fabulous!
But, it’s going to take a brave…and rich…baseball-loving enthusiast to revive interest in the game at a higher level than what we currently have…especially with corporate Saskatoon!
Plain and simple!
Next topic to tackle on Thursday…and it’s the biggie…a new arena and why Saskatoon does or doesn’t need one!
That’s my Parting Shot from the W-H-L’s East Division “Dubble” in Regina, I’m Les Lazaruk…
