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STATE FUNDING NEEDED TO BRING IN MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Tuesday, November 23, 2004 6:56 AM CST

Baseball fans throughout    southern Illinois were abuzz last    week after Friday's    announcement that options had been taken on a minor league baseball team with plans to relocate it here in 2006. The announcement that Alton attorney and SIU trustee John Simmons is the lead investor was also good news, lending credibility to a dream project that many people in the region have been working on for several years.

Also abuzz were local officials and economic development leaders who know the positive impact such a project would have on local tourism and on the local economy in general. A recent feasibility study showed that the region could certainly support a minor league baseball team. It would complement our existing tourism base and, at the same time, add to the region's quality of life as a great addition to the sports and entertainment scene.

Simmons, a 37-year-old multi-millionaire who also happens to be a baseball fanatic, has a track record of making things happen: His large donation has funded a new baseball complex in Edwardsville and the SIU campus there, and he has been a leader in saving a local steel company from going under, thus preserving hundreds of jobs in the Granite City and Alton area.

Simmons is also a shrewd businessman and knows this entire baseball project hinges on one item: having a stadium in which to play. In looking at the financial projections and business plan for the project, it is clear this entire project can only happen if the state of Illinois contributes money toward the stadium project. In fact, $7.5 million is needed from the state for the stadium. Such funding activity would not be new for the state; the state has used state tax money to help fund several similar projects in Chicago, along with stadiums in Peoria and in Kane County. Now it's Southern Illinois' turn and time for the state to step up to the plate and contribute money toward our stadium project. It should be clear that this money would not go to Simmons -- rather to an entity such as the city of Marion, which would actually own the stadium and then enter into a long-term lease with Simmons. This is a win-win-win scenario for the state, the city of Marion and for all of Southern Illinois. Gov. Rod Blagojevich has pledged his support for the project and it will be up to the state legislature to approve the money in its next session.

But, time is of the essence and the options taken on the team do have an expiration date. We encourage the legislature's party leaders, our local state delegation and Gov. Blagojevich to push the necessary buttons to get this stadium funding approved as soon as the next session begins.

Without it, a minor league baseball team coming to Southern Illinois will continue to be a dream.

With it, we could hear the sounds of "Play ball!" in 2006 and, along with it, the sounds of new dollars pouring into the region.