Cubs owner pans Boise's minor league baseball park
<p>JOE JASZEWSKI/The Idaho Statesman Tom Ricketts toured Memorial Stadium in Boise on Monday along with Boise Mayor Dave Bieter and others trying to stir public support for building a new stadium in the Treasure Valley. Ricketts, whose family has owned the Cubs since 2009, visited Boise as part of his tour of facilities around the country that host the organization's minor league affiliates.</p>
<p>JOE JASZEWSKI/The Idaho Statesman Chicago Cubs chairman and owner Tom Ricketts talks with Boise mayor Dave Bieter before a reception at the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce on Monday in Boise.</p>
BOISE (AP) - The owner of the Chicago Cubs says the Boise ballpark that serves as home to the organization's Class-A team is cramped, outdated and not up to the standards of minor league facilities across the nation.
Cubs owner Tom Ricketts toured Memorial Stadium Monday along with Boise Mayor Dave Bieter and others trying to stir public support for building a new stadium in the Treasure Valley.
Ricketts, whose family has owned the Cubs since 2009, visited Boise as part of his tour of facilities around the country that host the organization's minor league affiliates.
"The facility here is below standard," Ricketts told the Boise Chamber of Commerce Monday. "All the (minor-league) facilities we have are substantially better."
Boise plays in the eight-team, short-season class A Northwest League, which includes the Spokane Indians.
Ricketts did not make any offer Monday to contribute to the cost of building a new facility, but his comments could add momentum and urgency to the drive by the city and the Better Boise Coalition to build a new ballpark and sports complex, estimated at $25 million.
"We want to have the best organization in baseball. That includes having training facilities at every level of the organization that are representative of a great organization," said Ricketts, who said he has not had conversations with any other city about changing affiliations. "We're very, very supportive of the efforts here in town. It would be a good thing for the Cubs organization to have a better park here for us."
The Boise Hawks have been affiliated with the Cubs since 2001 and its player development contract with the major league team runs through the 2012 season. Supporters of a new stadium say Ricketts and other team officials will consider stadium conditions in the equation for renewing the contract with Boise or any other city.
The Hawks have long complained about the inadequacies of Memorial Stadium, which was built in 1989 for $2.3 million in private money. The stadium lacks many of the amenities that have become commonplace in minor-league baseball stadiums in other cities.
The team clubhouse doesn't have enough room for the 40 or so players, coaches and roving instructors. It has two toilets and urinals for players. It lacks a film room, a place to eat and a room for players to relax before or after games. One batting cage, a small training room and an undersized dugout need to grow, team officials have said. And it lacks space to do laundry, a daily chore for a baseball team.
"If our facility is not up to Tom Ricketts' standards, or the standards that are presented in all other cities that the Cubs are in, I believe they are going to look elsewhere," said Todd Rahr, president and general manager of the Boise Hawks.
But the challenge facing supporters is raising enough cash in a down economy to give the Hawks and its fans a modern new home.
The Better Boise Coalition is circulating donation forms on a brochure with donation options for $500, $1,000, $1,500 or $2,000, a sign for now that fundraising will be focused privately rather than publicly.