City of Fayetteville Gets Out of the Ballpark Business

After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in ballpark improvements, and losing money the last several years on operation, the City of Fayetteville officially got out of the baseball business Monday night.

In a unanimous 4-0 vote, the town council voted to terminate the city’s contract with the local SPJST lodge regarding the ballpark. The SPJST is a Czech fraternal and insurance organization.

The SPJST plans to contract with a group of local former players who are trying to form a non-profit tentatively called “The Fayetteville Baseball Association.” Members of that group addressed the council Monday, talking about interest in further upgrading the ballpark – including adding an artificial turf, with movable baselines, so more different levels of youth to adult baseball and even softball games could be played there.

The SPJST owns the land and the ballpark, but for at least the last 14 years the city has been managing the park and paying for renovations which have made it one of the nicest small town stadiums in the state – with new grandstands, lights and a press box that have just been added in the last few years.

Mike Stroup, who is running for mayor this spring, questioned during public comment at the beginning of the meeting why after years of the city paying to improve the park, that it would now be returned to SPJST “a finished product.”

Also during public comment Fayetteville resident Roger Parker called the move a “hell of a retirement plan” for city councilman Ronnie Pflughaupt, who is also the treasurer of the SPJST.

The group of former ballplayers seemed to try to find a middle ground.

“I don’t know financially what has gone on at the field,” said Mark Schmitt, who said he played on the ballfield for Fayetteville when it was little more than a haypatch. “Maybe we can help. We’re on a fact-finding mission.”

Pflughaupt gave the crowd Monday a lengthy history of the field to the crowd, including how Fayetteville baseball teams had to play their homes games in New Ulm and Brenham in recent years before the renovations.

During the meeting, councilmember Neal Doty asked a series of questions to Pflughaupt abut the city’s financial role with the ballpark over the years and about SPJST.

Doty asked about the local SPJST officers. Pflughaupt answered that his sister was the president of the SPJST and his wife the secretary. Pflughaupt was himself a longtime mayor of Fayetteville during the time the deals between the city and the ballpark were struck.

There’s no question the city of Fayetteville has invested a lot of money into the ballpark over the years – an estimated $330,000 in capital improvements there since 2007. The city does still have some debt related to the ballpark, but the exact dollar amount is not known, it’s part of a $89,000 loan that also includes other city projects.

According to a January 2019 story in The Fayette County Record it was reported during a town hall meeting that the city of Fayetteville was losing “$11,000 a year on the ballpark.”

Those annual losses stem from labor costs more than anything, said Fayetteville mayor Carl Marino Monday. The emergence of a volunteer group like the Fayetteville Baseball Association would seemingly remedy that issue.

“Does the council want to be in the baseball business? Marino told the council Monday. “Here’s an opportunity to put that baby to bed. We have a lack of volunteers. The labor eats up the profit. This is an opportunity for this council to get out of taking tickets ...I will not ask the city to put any more money into the ballpark.”

Doty said, “I don’t think the city should be in the baseball business ... but is this a net gain or a net loss?”

Marino: “We don’t have to sign this (termination agreement) but you have to show me how to make money on this.”

Pflughaupt said, “The city has been a great partner, but these guys (The Fayetteville Baseball Association) are ambitious... They think they can do a better job of running it than the city.”

At times the council seemed ready to table the issue and wait to make a decision – especially after it was brought up that the school has a contract to rent the field from the city this upcoming season, not SPJST.

“Just because we have a meeting doesn’t mean we have to do something,” Marino said.

Pflughaupt said SPJST would honor the current rental agreement with FISD.

“The ballpark can pay for itself. We think we can help bring more people in here (with more tournaments, games, etc.),” former Fayetteville baseball player Daniel Schley said. “But it’s got to be maintained better. I’m going to do everything I can to give y’all a good ballpark.”

In the end the council voted 4-0 to terminate the city’s ballpark contract with the SPJST regarding the ballpark with Pflughaupt not voting because of his conflict of interest on the issue.