Columbus Clippers

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

Donors commit $24 million to ballpark
Corporate sponsors back Clippers? home in Arena District
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Robert Vitale
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Corporate donors will sign on the dotted line today for $24 million in sponsorships at the Columbus Clippers? new Arena District ballpark.
The three deals and others that Franklin County officials say are still to come will cover about half the stadium?s total construction cost of $55 million and put corporate logos on the concourse, the scoreboard and the ballpark itself.
Columbus officials also will pledge $9 million today for street improvements and other infrastructure work around the stadium site at Neil Avenue and Nationwide Boulevard.
"This is about a number of partnerships," said Franklin County Commissioner Paula Brooks.
The agreements will be announced this morning at a courthouse news conference.
Franklin County owns the Clippers and will own the new ballpark, but commissioners have vowed not to use county tax dollars to build it.
A $12 million naming-rights deal announced in February with Huntington Bancshares Inc. is part of today?s news conference. Brooks said the agreement will be finalized today.
The other two sponsorships are new:
? Nationwide will pay $6 million to put its name on the stadium concourse.
? The Dispatch Printing Company, publisher of The Dispatch, will pay $6 million to put its name on the stadium scoreboard.
Brooks said county officials had set a $24 million goal for the three major naming-rights deals.
The $12 million coming from Huntington to keep its name on the stadium for 23 years is the second-biggest for a minorleague ballpark.
Fifth Third Bank paid $5 million to put its name on a new downtown ballpark in Toledo and $4.3 million for a minor-league stadium in Dayton.
Still to come in Columbus, Brooks said, are deals for corporate suites and other ballpark areas that could bring in another $6 million to $11 million.
"There are significantly more dollars to be raised from the private sector," Brooks said.
The county still hopes to get $7 million from the state as well. Several legislators will take part in today?s announcement, even though no state funding has been committed to the project.
Michelle Chippas, a spokeswoman for Nationwide Realty Investors, said Nationwide?s concourse deal comes on top of an estimated $1.25 million in work the company will donate for stadium planning.
Commissioners chose Nationwide Realty in March to oversee the project.
Michael F. Curtin, vice chairman and associate publisher of The Dispatch, said the company was approached months ago by Clippers President and General Manager Ken Schnacke, who thought the media tie-in was a natural for the scoreboard.
County officials said last week that they were moving back the opening of Huntington Park from mid-season in 2008 to opening day in 2009.
They said environmental cleanup at the stadium site ? it once housed a gas station ? will take longer than expected. But lining up donors has taken longer as well.
Some sponsors balked in the spring when commissioners appeared ready to adopt an agreement that would have given central Ohio labor unions control over construction jobs in exchange for a no-strike promise.
rvitale@dispatch.com

[TRON]

Columbus Clippers ring your bell....

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

CONTRACT WITH COUNTY
$4 parking for Clippers guaranteed for 2009
New ballpark will have 10-cent hot dogs, too
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Robert Vitale
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Dimes still will buy hot dogs, and dollar bills still will cover parking when the Columbus Clippers move to the Arena District in 2009.
Franklin County commissioners signed a contract yesterday with Nationwide Realty Investors that locks in parking rates of $4 or less for the Clippers? opening season at Huntington Park.
The agreement caps increases at $1 every even year through 2014, but Nationwide Realty President Brian Ellis said the company does not intend to raise parking prices that high. Parking would be $7 a game in 2014 and 2015 if the company raised rates the maximum amount.
Clippers fans have been skeptical of the county?s ability to keep ticket prices and parking rates affordable when the minor-league baseball team moves from 74-year-old Cooper Stadium to a new ballpark.
Single-game tickets cost from $6 to $10 for the 2006 season, and rates for children and senior citizens were as low as $3. Cooper Stadium parking cost $3.
"Parking and Dime-a-Dog Night have probably been the two major things" concerning fans, Commissioner Dewey Stokes said.
Commissioners already have promised that the popular hot-dog promo will make the move to Huntington Park. Ticket prices have not been set, although Commissioner Paula Brooks said they likely will stay within the current range.
Fans visiting the new stadium will rely on existing Arena District parking ? no new lots are planned ? and rates for Columbus Blue Jackets games and other events at Nationwide Arena are much higher than Clippers fans are used to.
The rate caps for Clippers games won?t apply at a lot just north of the new stadium, and they won?t apply on nights when baseball coincides with events at Nationwide Arena.
County Administrator Don L. Brown said the agreement will keep rates "affordable and family-friendly." Ellis said that has been Nationwide?s goal as well.
The parking agreement is part of Nationwide?s contract to oversee the stadium project for commissioners. The company will perform an estimated $750,000 worth of work for $1. The contract also allows Nationwide to claim reimbursement for up to $10,000 in expenses.
rvitale@dispatch.com

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

BASEBALL CLIPPERS
Ex-Mets catcher Stearns named manager of Clippers
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Craig Merz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH



John Stearns, who is familiar with players in the Washington organization, will manage the Clippers in their first season as a Nationals affiliate.
Stearns, a four-time All-Star catcher for the New York Mets in the late 1970s and early ?80s, is being promoted from double-A Harrisburg (Pa.) of the Eastern League after he led the Senators to a 67-75 record in his first season. Stearns has managed more than 600 minor-league games, including the Mets? triple-A team in Norfolk, Va., in 2004.
"I?ve heard a lot of good things about him," Clippers president Ken Schnacke said. "I don?t know him as well as some others in the organization other than seeing him when the Tides came through Columbus. I know the Nationals think highly of him."
Stearns, 55, replaces Dave Miley, who remained with the New York Yankees organization after they moved their farm team to Scranton, Pa. Miley will manage the Red Barons.
The Clippers signed a two-year player development contract with the Nationals in September after ending a 28-year relationship with the Yankees. Washington?s previous triple-A affiliate in New Orleans played in the Pacific Coast League and the Zephyrs were 72-71 under manager Tim Foli last season. He is expected to take a roving position in the Nationals system. Former minor-league field coordinator Scott Little will manage Harrisburg.
Schnacke said the remainder of the staff could be named this week. Kevin Long, the Clippers? hitting coach last season, took the same position with the Yankees and Neil Allen, the 2006 pitching coach, in November was named the pitching coach for Tampa Bay?s double-A team in Montgomery, Ala.
Stearns was a two-sport star at the University of Colorado and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills of the NFL but chose to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1973. He played one game for the Phillies in 1974 before being traded to the Mets. He stayed with the club until 1984 and ended his career after a brief stint with the Cincinnati Reds the next season.
His post-playing career began in 1986 when the Milwaukee Brewers hired him as a scout and minor-league instructor. Since then, he has had stops in the Toronto, Yankees, Cincinnati, Baltimore and Mets organizations. He joined Harrisburg in 2005 after six seasons with the Mets, the last as a roving catching instructor. He also was a broadcaster for ESPN in 1993.
Clippings

Details of the Nationals? exhibition in Columbus could be announced this week. The game is scheduled for late March, possibly the 29 th or 30 th. Baltimore is a possible opponent. ? Shortstop Andy Cannizaro has been named Clipper of the Year and will be recognized at the ClippersFest on Jan. 25 in the Arena Grand Theatre. ? Schnacke said there would be some alterations to the uniforms to incorporate the Nationals? red, blue and gold scheme.
cmerz@dispatch.com

[ScriptOhio]

CONTRACT WITH COUNTY
$4 parking for Clippers guaranteed for 2009

The bad thing about the location for the new ball park is that it encompasses the $5 parking lot (in front of the Buggy Works condos) that I use for the Blue Jacket games.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Former Clippers GM Sisler dies
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Craig Merz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


George Sisler Jr., the former general manager of two Columbus baseball franchises and son of a Hall of Fame first baseman, died Sunday in Worthington. He was 89.

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