So much for War Memorial Stadium becoming "Greensboro's premier amateur baseball venue". This morning's N&R reports that the Greensboro Sports Commission has abandoned their committment to the the City's own stadium. Commission president Marc Bush is busy wooing the ACC baseball tournament to the new downtown stadium (a private venture in case you are not keeping up). Last I checked, the ACC is an amateur outfit. Last I checked the City taxpayers fund the Greensboro Sports Commission ($75,000 FY 03/04), they should be working for us - not Downtown Renaissance, LLC.
Where staff writer Bob Daniels came up with this statement is beyond me: "Greensboro has never been a relevant player in ACC baseball because War Memorial Stadium has been considered inadequate from the moment the conference was founded at Sedgefield Country Club 51 years ago this month."
The Florida Marlins and, before them, the New York Yankees considered WMS "adequate" for their fledgling stars. The Bats are starting an eight-night home stand there tonight. Saying that WMS has been "inadequate" for the past 51 years is simply irresponsible reporting. Daniels should have asked of Bush, "what makes WMS "inadequate" in the eyes of the ACC?... and then the follow-up question, "did you ask the City to address those inadequacies?"
In recent Parks & Recrestion Commission discussions on the future useage of WMS, Marc never offered a single word about what it would take to bring the ACC baseball tournament to WMS. I asked him several times what upgrades needed to be made so he can book "premier" amateur tournaments at the facility. Nothing was mentioned about what the ACC requires that WMS doesn't have. He even went so far as to suggest that even new locker rooms would not be necessary.
It's not like the ACC tournament crowds would overwhelm WMS, the tournament only draws around 3,000 fans according to the article. War Memorial seats over 6,000 in its current state of disrepair.
This whole thing stinks... real bad.
8:19:25 AM 
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