Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 4, 1994 TAG: 9401040107
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Mayor James Taliaferro has written Carolina League president John Hopkins, telling him the city is in the process of trying to find a means to pay for a new ballpark that would meet all standards of the Professional Baseball Agreement and would be ready by the 1995 season.
Taliaferro also has sent out feelers to the city of Roanoke and to Roanoke County to see if there will be an interest from those municipalities in sharing in the cost of a new facility.
"They [Roanoke and the county] asked for $1 million from us to help with the airport, which we did, so I didn't see anything wrong with asking them about money to build a new ballpark," Taliaferro said.
Taliaferro's proposal of $1 million in contributions each from the city and county, "no strings attached" in his words, has been met with a lukewarm response.
"We have received the letter, but it was not a priority item so we did not discuss it in [Monday's] City Council meeting," Roanoke Mayor David Bowers said. "It has been turned over to the city manager [Bob Herbert], and he will be putting together the city's response."
Herbert was out of the office Monday afternoon and unavailable for comment.
Fuzzy Minnix of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors said he has seen the letter but that the board has not had a chance to discuss it. He anticipated the matter would come up at the next meeting Jan. 11.
"I don't know how the board will react," he said. "Personally, I'm hopeful that we can embrace this project as several municipalities. I suppose we should get together with Salem and the city to decide where it would go. It probably makes sense to have it in Salem."
Taliaferro has said he favors building a new ballpark next to Salem Civic Center, and he reiterated that in his correspondence to the city and county. He said in the letter that the expected cost of the new facility would be between $4 million and $5 million.
Discussions of a new ballpark have escalated with reports that Bucs owner Kelvin Bowles is about to sell the team to an undisclosed out-of-town buyer. Salem Municipal Field, the Bucs' home, is considered outdated.
Taliaferro has gone on record with the Carolina League with the city's opinion of the proposed sale of the team.
"I need to further advise you that Salem objects strongly to the sale of the Salem Buccaneers Baseball Club to absentee owners as well as any moving of the club from our city," Taliaferro wrote Hopkins.
Terms of a sales contract and new owners must be approved by the league's board of directors and the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs before a sale can be made final.
by CNB