Eugene Emeralds minor league baseball work to close $43M gap for new stadium

The Eugene Emeralds have a Sept. 30 deadline to get commitments to close a $43 million gap in order to build a proposed stadium at the Lane County Fairgrounds.

"We've got to let Major League Baseball know by Sept. 30 where we're going, what's the design plan, how it's getting funded," Emeralds general manager Allan Benavides told The Register-Guard.

During a June 27 meeting, representatives of the Emeralds updated county commissioners, saying the project had grown past its initial estimate to $100.5 million, and they only had money for $57.5 million of that total.

The commissioners in November approved looking into the feasibility of the new stadium for the minor league team affiliated with the San Francisco Giants and a multi-use center.

They have not approved or denied the project, but county staff and the Emeralds are continuing to explore the stadium's feasibility until they can hold another meeting, tentatively set for August. Commissioners expressed support for the Emeralds and hesitancy about the stadium's price tag.

"I have great memories about the Ems," Commissioner David Loveall said during the meeting, "(but) emotion is what costs you money. … What kind of bite are we willing to bite off, for the sake of the taxpayers, for the sake of investment, for the sake of making sure we make money at it and use it … so that we can actually pull our emotion out of it and make some really sensible decisions."

The Eugene Emeralds were founded in 1955, and played in Civic Stadium from 1969 to 2009 before leaving, citing the stadium's age and the expense needed to modernize it.

They've been renting use of the University of Oregon's PK Park in the time since, but must leave that stadium as well after MLB promoted the Emeralds, lengthening its season to conflict with UO's, and set new requirements for minor league stadiums that PK Park doesn't meet.

"We really need your help," Benavides told city councilors at a July 24 meeting. "Otherwise we're going to lose this team."

The Ems sold out 26 of its 38 games in its last season before the pandemic and are forecast to sell out a dozen this year. But Benavides noted that's with the longer season, so more people are attending games overall.

So far the stadium's proposed funding model includes:

• $1.5 million from the federal government.

• $7.5 million from state government.

• Approximately $35 million from the Car Rental Tax and Transient Lodging Tax, two taxes Lane County voted to raise in September and that went into effect in January for activities that would drive tourism.

• $13.5 million from the Emeralds. Eugene Planning and Development Executive Director Denny Braud told city councilors the Emeralds planned to treat $10 million of this as advanced rent, but there was still room for that to be negotiated differently.

For the remaining $43 million, the Emeralds have said they are continuing to explore public and private sources.

Public funding options for proposed Emerald Stadium

Federal and state

The first $1.5 million of federal money came from a federal grant to support buildings that could serve as emergency shelters after an earthquake.

The team applied for a second one of those grants, which could add an additional $1.5 million, said Jessie Steiger, senior construction project manager for the stadium.

The Emeralds also plan to ask Oregon lawmakers to double the state's contribution when they meet next year.

Lane County

The Lane County Board of Commissioners have the final say on whether to build a stadium.

Commissioners have been supportive of the concept, but they have expressed reluctance to spend more than the land and the tourism-based taxes already allotted to the project.

The funding gap isn't something the county "has an answer for at this point," said Commissioner Pat Farr. "We struggled to find $3.5 million this year."

City of Eugene

The Emeralds have asked the city of Eugene to contribute to the stadium. City councilors also have expressed verbal support for the Emeralds and the facility concept and hesitancy to put money toward it besides Eugene's share of the tourism taxes.

"The Ems are a part of our heart here in the community and I feel strongly about finding a way to make this happen," Councilor Mike Clark said. "However, the numbers are pretty tall."

Clark said he didn't know how to make it happen "without making some pretty drastic changes in our community."

"I'm skeptical of what it requires to get this done without some pretty brilliant brainstorming at this point," he said. "But I'm certainly open to it."

City Manager Sarah Medary and some councilors have suggested the following as possible ways of helping with stadium costs:

• Reducing construction fees

• Raising tourism taxes within the city, including a possible tax on UO Athletics

• Selling city-owned land

• Diverting money from other projects

The Emeralds have asked Eugene for $15 million. "I understand it's a lot of money, but it's not what other municipalities have had to do attract teams," Benavides said. "We've gotten money from the federal government we've gotten money from the state government and the county. Yet the City of Eugene's not involved, and we're the Eugene Emeralds."

Like Medary, Benavides said the city contribution doesn't have to be cash. "That could be soft costs. That could be permits. That could be a number of ways they could contribute," he said. "It doesn't have to be all money, and it doesn't have to be all up front either."

Voters

Multiple elected officials have suggested the Emeralds seek a bond measure to make up the gap.

"Let people vote on it if the Ems want to stay," Councilor Alan Zelenka said. "I think they have a pretty good chance of passing that."

In a survey Lane County conducted in October 2021, 50% of respondents supported building a new Emeralds stadium and 43% opposed it.

Private funding options for an Emerald stadium

The Giants and Major League Baseball

Elected officials and community members have asked why the San Francisco Giants, the Emerald's MLB affiliate, aren't contributing to the stadium.

Benavides said that's not how it works.

The Giants pay for the players, and if an Emerald's stadium isn't built, the Giants can pick another city for a minor league team.

"They have choices. They have communities and places that want minor league baseball," Benavides said. "The Somerset Patriots in the Northeast … they got AAA (affiliation) now for the Yankees just because of how great their facility was. It's about facilities."

Sponsorships

Benavides said sponsorships, mainly stadium naming rights, would be part of paying for the stadium and could make up about $15 million of the gap.

"Everything's on the table in terms of trying to find more private money," he said.

But Benavides said it's hard to get sponsors on board without more assurance from the public sector. "I can't sell them a naming right to a project that does not exist right now," he said.

County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky agreed.

"Typically the public funders are coming at this stage," Mokrohisky said. "If we can get within $10-$15 million of closing the gap, we're within striking distance. But we really need more public funding support from state and local partners to be able to get to that place that then the Ems have the ability to go in and close the final gap."

Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached at atorres@gannett.com or on Twitter at @alanfryetorres

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Eugene Emeralds work to close $43M gap for baseball stadium