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Sprindale Minor League Sports Complex and Minor League Baseball Stadium

mcheiss

By mcheiss
in Northwest Arkansas

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KJW Burg

KJW

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I imagine this team will do better than any other we'll be able to lure into the area. I think it will do just fine. We may not bring in as much attendance as other Texas League teams, but I think we'll be able to support it alright.
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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Thanks, Mith...reading my previous comments I didn't communicate my thoughts very well. I meant that I question how successful selling the Royals to this area will be. However, I think the Naturals will do just fine and may even give the league some nice surprises.
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masons_dad1 Town

masons_dad1

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Thanks for alerting us to this article, Mith...cute little paragraph at the very end of the story talking about "red to blue".

My .02? I question how successful this will be. My gut feeling is that this team will first and foremost be a Northwest Arkansas team that's not the razorbacks, and that a lot of folks moving in from elsewhere who may not ever have much allegiance to the U of A will be NWA Nats fans...they'll have allegiance to our area. Then again, so much else about this market is trendsetting, who knows what may happen here?

Good to read Edelstein's comments...he's a wise man.

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KJW Burg

KJW

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(From Andrew's article):

Dandes said the number of national companies who submitted proposals surprised him, but Rich Baseball wanted a partner with "deep roots in Northwest Arkansas."

"We wanted a name that was not only recognized, but one that is respected," Dandes said. "They share our passion for families and citizens. They have a large presence and history here."

Arvest has 218 branches in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri and the Fayetteville chartered bank has more than $9.3 billion in assets.

Dandes said the eventual decision to partner with Arvest was based upon more than financial considerations. One plan is to make Naturals tickets available at Arvest branches and technical details are being ironed out to make that possible.

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zman9810 Burg

zman9810

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It would really be interesting to hear what national companies were interested in the naming rights for a minor league stadium in Springdale, AR. It seems like that would be putting your company's name out there for a limited time each year and in a small market at that. Arvest makes sense seeing as how they are from here and in most of the other Texas League cities.

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andrewjensen Whistle-Stop

andrewjensen

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this media market is pretty close to top 100 in the nation, so you could get worse exposure. there are also a lot of national corporations who have a presence in Northwest Arkansas.

(think of the ATM fees they're going to rack up from all these other banks. they might make their money back on that alone.)

I'm glad it's not Arvest Bank Ballpark. They do have one-name recognition, that's for sure. But it's not as snappy as Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. $20 million buys you a lot of letters.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Looks like the U of A is taking the NWA Naturals seriously. They recently refused to list their patrons who own skyboxes through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, citing 'competitive advantage exemption'. There's an article about it by Robert Bell over on Arkansas Business.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.as...11899&cID=m

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Interesting, Mith...that's a five page (online) article.

Probably shouldn't read too much into this but...it's also interesting that of the two apparent final candidates for the Arkansas AD job (Pittsburgh's Long and the guy from Tulane in New Orleans), both came not from traditional college towns but from two metro areas where there were pro teams competing with their schools audiences.

Our crew at U of A was wise enough not only to select a talented individual for AD, but a talented individual from a place where his wasn't the only game in town.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Sorry this is a bit off topic but I thought it was pretty interesting. Did anyone know there was a minor league baseball league affiliated with the American League here in the area back in the 30's? The Arkansas State League started in 1934 with four teams; Fayetteville Educators, Rogers Rustlers, Bentonville Officeholders, and Siloam Springs Buffalos. Two more teams were added in 1935, Huntsville Red Birds and Cassville Tigers. many of the other teams changed mascots/names, Fayetteville became the Bears, Siloam Springs became the Travelers and Rogers became the Cardinals. The league folded and all the teams moved to the Arkansas-Missouri League in 1936 and lasted until 1940. Anyway I just thought that was interesting. I'd never heard that before.

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KJW Burg

KJW

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Sorry this is a bit off topic but I thought it was pretty interesting. Did anyone know there was a minor league baseball league affiliated with the American League here in the area back in the 30's? The Arkansas State League started in 1934 with four teams; Fayetteville Educators, Rogers Rustlers, Bentonville Officeholders, and Siloam Springs Buffalos. Two more teams were added in 1935, Huntsville Red Birds and Cassville Tigers. many of the other teams changed mascots/names, Fayetteville became the Bears, Siloam Springs became the Travelers and Rogers became the Cardinals. The league folded and all the teams moved to the Arkansas-Missouri League in 1936 and lasted until 1940. Anyway I just thought that was interesting. I'd never heard that before.
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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Mith, that's quite interesting. Here's another bit of league trivia...the last time the Texas League had two teams in a state that wasn't "Texas" was in the mid-70s, when there were multiple teams in Louisiana.

Here's something else...ours will apparently be the first minor league stadium to have a high-definition screen (that surprises me). In this Times article it says one can see something new almost every day when driving by the stadium. There should be some good construction weather coming up...this will be fascinating.

The article also says the uniforms then the mascot design will be up next. I can't wait to see that latter...that should be interesting (and tricky)...

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KJW Burg

KJW

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They aren't a-kiddin' that you can see something new every day at the new ballpark. It's rising from the ground now...they're putting steel up for what I guess is the main entryway, suites, etc.

Should have known this, I guess, but it appears that the entrance (the one pictured on the front page here and in their "flythrough" movie) appears to face to the west. It'll be fascinating to see the way this is lit up from the highway.

(Speaking of "lit up"...there's a new Kum and Go (hate that name) convenience store at the I-540/Elm Springs exit just to the north, and a Value Place extended stay motel with it's visible-for-a-mile sign is getting ready to open behind that store...Springdale's getting much more visible north to south from the freeway.)

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