It seems that the UNM baseball team will play at least some of its home games at the Albuquerque Sports Stadium next year, but what’s not certain is whether it will be sharing the stadium with a Triple-A baseball team.
Late Monday night, the Albuquerque City Council hammered out a deal with the owners of a group of investors who want to purchase the Triple-A Calgary Cannons franchise and move it to Albuquerque. The deal set the terms for a lease agreement in either a new baseball stadium or a renovated Albuquerque Sports Stadium.
The City of Albuquerque and Kenneth Young, the negotiator for the investors, agreed to pay $1 million to lease a new stadium. The two groups also agreed on an $850,000 price tag to lease a renovated Sports Stadium. The lease between the city and the incoming baseball team would be for 25 years, according to a binding letter of intent between Young and the city.
Albuquerque voters will now decide on May 30 whether they want a new stadium at a price tag of nearly $35 million or to renovate the Sports Stadium at a cost of $25 million.
Whatever the outcome, the Lobos will either play exclusively at the Sports Stadium for their home games, or share the stadium.
“The only thing we would prefer is that voters want to build a new stadium so that the Lobos can be the primary tenants of the Sports Stadium,” UNM athletics director Rudy Davalos said. “Even if we don’t get a new stadium, then we still intend to be the secondary tenant of the renovated one.”
Davalos said the only potential hurdle for the Lobos playing at the Sports Stadium next year would be if voters decide on renovation and the field is not suitable for play due to construction.
The Lobos set a Mountain West Conference and UNM baseball attendance record last weekend when more than 5,000 fans showed up for a game against the Air Force Academy at the Sports Stadium. Davalos said the attendance in that game, in part, proved why UNM deserves to continue playing there.
“When you attract over 5,000 people to a game, you’ve accomplished something,” Davalos said. “But we’ve earned the right to play there because we’re the UNM Lobos, and it’s on our land. I’d like to see us host a conference championship and perhaps an NCAA regional. It has already helped with recruiting.”
Junior designated hitter Anthony Lovato said he might prefer that the Lobos go back to playing at Lobo Field.
“I like playing at Lobo Field because the ball just flies,” Lovato said. “The Sports Stadium is a pitcher’s park, but it’s a nice field and it’s been fun.”
Lovato added that, except for last Saturday’s record-breaking attendance game and a few other heavily attended home games, attendance at the Sports Stadium has been relatively low.
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The public will decide in the May 30 election whether to pay $15 million of the funding, which will come from General Obligation Bonds. City Council President Brad Winter said recently that Gov. Gary Johnson passed a bill that would issue a surcharge on baseball tickets, merchandise and refreshments to pay back a state loan that would fund the rest of the baseball stadium renovation or building. Winter has said he favors renovating the Sports Stadium and that the City Council would ensure that either stadium would be open for community use.
Albuquerque Mayor Jim Baca has made no bones about his stance — he wants to build a new stadium — and on a Tuesday morning sports talk show, he applauded the lease agreement.
Meanwhile, Margie Baca Archuleta of the County Clerk Office said people wishing to vote in the special election who are not already registered to vote, would need to register by 5 p.m. Wednesday in the Bernalillo County Clerk.
“To get an application and put it in the mail, there’s a strong possibility that it wouldn’t make it,” Baca Archuleta said. “They’re not looking at postmarks; the forms have to be in before 5 p.m. Wednesday.”
She said that people who don’t live in Albuquerque but own property within Bernalillo County and have paid taxes on the land could also vote. Those people have until May 15 to register but need a certificate signed by the Assessor’s office and the County Clerk certifying their situation.
Baca Archuleta said the City is hoping for at least 30 percent of the 254,803 registered voters to vote in the election.
“I hope we have strong voter turnout,” Baca Archuleta said. “Then we can feel good about staging it.”
The Bernalillo County Clerk’s office is located at 1 Civic Plaza on the sixth floor. For more information about registering to vote and voter locations, call 768-4085 or go to www.cabq.gov/clerk.
