Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 31, 1995 TAG: 9503310084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
City officials are saying May 22, the start of a three-game series with the Lynchburg Hillcats, is the likely date for the opening of the new ballpark.
``We feel pretty sure that we'll be able to do that,'' said Forest Jones, assistant city manager. ``Right now, we're about a month behind schedule.''
There will be four home stands, totaling 20 games, before the new ballpark is ready. The Avalanche is expected to play at its former home, Municipal Field, until the new stadium is ready. Approval of the league, the Avalanche's parent organization - the Colorado Rockies - and Major League Baseball must be secured before that can happen.
``I don't anticipate any problem with that whatsoever,'' said Kelvin Bowles, team owner.
Although Avalanche officials had held out hope publicly that the team could be in the new stadium for the season's first home stand, it was decided last week at a meeting involving Salem Mayor Jim Taliaferro, Avalanche general manager Sam Lazzaro, Bowles and Jones that an April 14 opener would be impossible, Jones said.
``You don't want to open in a half-completed stadium, because that would be a tremendous potential liability for the city,'' Jones said.
The last bids for construction of the stadium were accepted Thursday afternoon. Salem City Council will announce the successful bid at a special meeting at 8 a.m. today. Work still to be done includes the press box, sky boxes, three clubhouses, offices, toilets, concession stands, heating and air conditioning and electrical.
The final price tag is expected to swell to $6 million or more, about $1 million more than originally projected.
``We had hoped that we could get in there in time, and one of the main reasons for that was because I was close to the people in Bowie Md.],'' Bowles said. ``I saw the kind of temporary measures they used there in order to be able to open.''
The Bowie Baysox moved into a far-from-completed Prince George's Stadium at the start of the 1994 Class AA Eastern League season.
``We'll work out something reasonable, I'm sure,'' said Carolina League president John Hopkins, when asked about the possibility of the Avalanche moving back to Municipal Field.
Dick Balderson, the Rockies' farm director, said last week he assumed Colorado would go along with the plan to play at Municipal Field while the new stadium is completed.
Grounds crews have been working at Municipal Field all along. This week, the field looked as green and groomed as it ever did when it was the headquarters for the old Salem Buccaneers.
Bowles and Lazzaro have refused to criticize the city because of construction delays.
``I am not in the least bit upset,'' Bowles said.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***