Bats concerned soccer could damage field at Slugger
Gary Ulmer doesn’t have an interest in buying into or formally supporting a professional soccer team playing at Slugger Field.
“But we’re not going to be the ones to stand in the way of making this happen,” the Louisville Bats’ president and CEO said.
That is, with one exception. Should The Triple-A Bats in 2015 start sharing Slugger Field with a United Soccer Leagues Professional Division franchise, Ulmer intends to make sure the playing surface remains fit for baseball.
With the Orlando City Soccer Club moving to Major League Soccer as part of the league’s expansion, Orlando’s USL Pro club will move for 2015 and affiliate with its MLS parent. Local architect Wayne Estopinal is already a minority owner in Orlando City, and he’s announced a June 4 event to address “the future of soccer in Louisville.”
As USL-to-Louisville nears its announcement, Mayor Greg Fischer’s proposed 2015 budget released last week also included $581,000 for renovations to Slugger Field should the USL Pro franchise relocate.
“All parties will just have to understand that there’s always a possibility that this won’t work because we’re not willing to do anything that will adversely affect the playing field,” Ulmer said. “That doesn’t mean that we don’t understand the field will take some abuse, and there might be a spot or two in the outfield as a result of soccer that might not have been there for sure.
“But we don’t know for sure until we play a season, or a game for that matter.”
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Ulmer said he met Saturday with city officials and a group pushing to relocate Orlando City’s USL Pro club to Louisville. There, options to transition the field from soccer to baseball were discussed including turf covering for base paths and a pitcher’s mound that retracts into the ground.
Funds from the city budget would also be used to build a soccer locker room into Slugger Field, with a USL team expected to play 20 or so games there each year. Helping matters is Slugger Field’s new Bermuda surface, switched starting this year from less durable bluegrass.
Ulmer stressed that Estopinal and his partners have not reached an agreement yet with the Bats organization, Slugger Field’s primary tenant. The Bats would act as a landlord of sorts for the soccer club, negotiating dates that work around the existing baseball schedule while using its ground crew to transition the field.
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By June 4, “I would think that would be a stretch for us to have a final agreement in place,” Ulmer said. “But if things go well this week, we could have some kind of agreement in principle.
“We’re certainly willing to give this a try and believe it should work. We just have to understand what’s expected with this.”
USL has already passed a vote approving Louisville should Orlando City decide upon it. The pro division is the nation's third-tier soccer organization, designated as Division III behind MLS (Division I) and the North American Soccer League (Division II).
Estopinal noted last month that Louisville would not just get a USL team, but one of the best. Orlando City has won two championships in the last three seasons, attracting 20,886 fans to its title game match last fall.
Jonathan Lintner can be reached at (502) 582-4199; follow him on Twitter @JonathanLintner.