Goodbye, McDermott Field.

Please feel free to share any memories you have.

Thanks for writing this, dnix. I rarely read anything from Chukars fans.

I’m just wondering if with the $ that has become available to the city for Sunnyside, does anyone think the city may contribute more to the new field? So instead of scaling it down even more, does anyone have information or ideas about the city of I.F. contributing more $?

Thanks for the article.

I am concerned we may get a boring new stadium with no character.

I still don’t understand how they got design plans for a stadium that would have cost several million dollars beyond their wildest dreams. How closely did the project manager communicate wtih the original architects?

Then they had to pay another architect to scale down the plans to something they could afford in wild (though not wildest) dreams.

Now they’re having trouble getting the money to even cover their scaled down plans, and I’ve heard they’re looking at scaling them down more.

Again, I am concerned we may get a boring new stadium with no character.

We want to see a few new neat amenities. We do not want to see the same facility with newer materials being the only change.

Is the project manager in charge of the new ballpark really qualified for managing this project?

I am beginning to question whether this is ever going to get done. Even with Sunnyside no longer an issue, my impression right now is that the city has committed all it’s going to commit. They’ve got other constituents who are after them for money — people who want a new hockey rink, people who want more soccer fields. There are legitimate arguments that those things would have a bigger impact on kids than a new ballpark. Oh yeah, the American Legion and Babe Ruth people say a new ballpark would be a great thing. We could get state tournaments here, which is always an economic boon. But the main benefit of a renovated ballpark would go to the professional team. The kids teams could continue to play at McDermott the way it is now.

Meanwhile, Chukars owner Dave Elmore is running a business, which means you’re only going to get so much money out of him. The Step Up to the Plate fund-raising campaign has been going on for almost 2 1/2 years, so I think they’ve gone about as far as they can go.

That leaves us with what? Can Blake Hall go back to Frank VanderSloot and ask him for $1 million on top of the $600,000 he pledged last year? I doubt it.

Or does the City Council want to put the question to voters? A bond issue is always risky in taxophobic Idaho Falls (they’re off the hook with the $58 million in IPP-3 bonds they’re asking for in November because it won’t effect taxes or electrical rates), but could they have advisory vote on how far the public would be willing to let them dip into the reserves to get the job done? One thing is for sure, though. The longer it takes the more expensive it gets.

They can only scale it back so far. Their big problem is that even the stripped down facility they’re talking about now is going to cost at least a $1 million more than they have budgeted so far. Only about half the bids they solicited in August came back. They’ve got to tell the contractors who did submit bids what the situation is. If any work is going to be done in preparation for next year, it’s got to start soon. Short of some sort of deus ex machina development, I’ll be surprised to see it happen.

Here’s an idea, why not build an entirely new stadium?

The time frame in which to get the work done rehabilitating McDermott is obviously crazy. More than half that time is during winter, I’m no construction guru but doesn’t cement need to cure at certain temps?

The playing surface at McDermott is in good condition, American Legion, high schools, and even tournaments could still be held there.

It seems to me that rushing this project, in Joes words, will only leave us with an ordinary ballpark, not something that screams “Idaho Falls”.

Maybe the city could find a piece of land suitable for a new ballpark. That would give contractors a better timeframe while allowing enough room for better accesibility, and parking.

The only question is, who comes up with the money? Well, how about Frank Vandersloot? He generously gave $2 million already, perhaps if he’s going to invest in this project he would like to see it done right. I wonder what his thoughts are about this whole deal?

I love pro baseball, and it has been in IF since I was born. I would hate to see it go. If the city wants this done, and Mr. Greene wants this done, they might have to rethink the plans before it’s too late.