Red Sox ask Regina to put in $100,000 to study feasibility of new baseball stadium

The Regina Red Sox Baseball Club and Living Sky Sports and Entertainment Inc. areasking the city to sign a letter of intent (LOI) to explore the feasibility of a new 3,500-seat stadium, and they want the city to fund up to $100,000.

The Executive committee meets this morning to discuss whether to recommend the LOI to city council.

The stadium is pegged to cost about $20 million to $25 million. The club would put in about $5 million and the rest would come from the city or other funds the city could access.

The team says this would be a state-of-the-art stadium with the Red Sox as the anchor tenant.

If the project is approved, Living Sky Sports president Alan Simpson previously said the stadium could open as soon as 2023 or 2024.

Gary Brotzel, president of the Regina Red Sox,has previously said an amusement tax on ticket salesand the potential for naming rights and sponsorshipsmean the project wouldn'tbe too costly for Regina residents.

The team has said the stadium would be on the vacantsite which the city purchased the former Canadian Pacific Railyard lands in 2012.

But the report going to the executive committee states "a location for a potential baseball park has not been identified and will be considered as part of the project work outlined in the LOI."

The Red Sox play in the Western Canadian Baseball League and currently play home games at Currie Field at Mount Pleasant Sports Park.

The Red Sox say Currie Field, which has a seating capacity of 1,200, does not meet its needs anymore.

If LOI is is recommended to council, it will be voted on at the Oct. 13 council meeting.