Mobile city leaders will need at least another week before settling who takes control of Hank Aaron Stadium for the final two years of its current lease term, after the City Council opted to hold over the matter at last week’s meeting.
The council is weighing two competing bids for the stadium: one from the Mobile Sports and Entertainment Group, made up largely of former Hank Aaron Stadium staff who want to fill the venue’s calendar with high school and college baseball games along with family-oriented entertainment, and another from a group led by Tim Bennett that hopes to land an independent league baseball club for the city.
Whoever wins out will inherit a lease that previously belonged to BallCorps LLC, the ownership group that purchased the Mobile BayBears and relocated the franchise to Madison, near Huntsville, rebranding it as the Rocket City Trash Pandas. That move left Hank Aaron Stadium without its longtime tenant and set off the search for what comes next at the ballpark.
Councilman John Williams, who led an ad hoc committee that met Monday with representatives from both groups, said the session surfaced new details that led the council to hold off on a vote. Among them: a clause in the existing contract calling for the stadium to be demolished if no baseball — particularly minor league baseball — is played there before the lease runs out.
“What transpired was a revelation of unknowns that changes the contracts,” Williams said. “We had some uncertainties as to who was going to do what and when. There was a lot of clarification, but all the legal stuff was put in place and now we’ve got to wait to review it.”
Williams said outgoing city attorney Wanda Cochran, who is stepping down at the end of December, will handle that review before the council moves forward. He added that he sees room for both groups to come away satisfied with however the lease is ultimately structured.
“Wanda’s still on the job, and she’s doing it,” Williams said. “I think both parties may get something that they want. Who knows? It’s certainly possible, so I don’t think that anybody should be disappointed, and hopefully, we’ll be able to do some things that will increase the quality of life for Mobilians for the next two years.”
Council President Levon Manzie said he welcomes having two serious proposals on the table and noted that revisions to the lease agreement are nothing new. “This was the fourth revision of the contract,” Manzie said. “As a result, the council’s attorney has not had the chance to review it. There’s no reason to rush the decision; we ought to be deliberate, because there are some very important decisions that have to be made.”
Manzie said he sees merit in both pitches. “We’re very fortunate to have two very promising proposals,” he said. “We built the stadium for the purpose for having baseball, as Mr. Bennett’s group is proposing, and I was impressed with the staff that the Mobile Sports Entertainment Group put together.”
Hank Aaron Stadium, built to host the BayBears’ minor league games, has sat without a full-time professional tenant since the team’s departure for north Alabama. The council’s decision will determine not just who runs the facility but what kind of baseball, if any, Mobile fans will see there over the next two years — a question made more pressing by the lease’s demolition clause. No new vote date had been set as of last week’s meeting.