We Want Mississippi Baseball Deal

Rich Neuman is quoted as saying the City of Wilmington “drove a hard bargain” and used Pearl, Mississippi’s Trustman Field as an example of how much better the Wilmington deal is.  Here’s the catch, he’s correct, it’s a much better deal for him.

(StarNews story) In Pearl, Miss., for example, the Braves pay less than $200,000 annually to rent a stadium, Plant said. Unlike Wilmington’s proposed single-A team, Pearl has a double-A team. (missing key point, stadium there was built with PRIVATE money and that is all profit to city, a poorly reported comparison)

And then there is this gem from the lack of fact editorial page:

The $500,000 annual rent is “by far” the highest for a Braves organization. As a comparison, the rent on the Braves’ AA stadium in Pearl, Miss., built in 2005 is less than $200,000 a year. The Wilmington team would be “high A,” a step below AA.

Factually, somewhat accurate.  Truth is, that $200k is entirely profit to the city that forked over NOTHING!  Here are some facts on the Trustman Field in Pearl that the Braves, the Chamber and StarNews failed to mention.

• Construction cost: $28 million
• Financing: Was built with private money as part of a large mixed-use development that is anchored by a 130,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shop
• Stands on 30 acres of land near the intersection of I-20 and I-55 that is about 5 miles southeast of the State Capitol in Jackson.
• Naming rights: Mississippi-based Trustmark National Bank paid an undisclosed sum for 15 years; the name of the ballpark was announced on March 25, 2005

We’ll take that deal all day long.  Hey StarNews, Chamber and the rest of you, let’s get the same deal Mississippi got.  Your “deal” doesn’t look nearly as good because you weren’t able to get the Braves to pay for your field!

Sort version, Wilmington got embarrassed!