New baseball stadium lease heads for home plate
Posted Dec 4, 2019 12:19:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The city's finance and economic development committee has approved a new lease agreement for the baseball stadium on Coventry Road, which now heads to city council for approval.
The new deal would see the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, along with Winnipeg Goldeyes owner Sam Katz, take over the lease at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Park. The ten-year lease would begin in 2021, and would require Katz and OSEG to get a team at the frontier league level or better to play at the stadium.
Katz and OSEG will also pay the debt left behind by former Ottawa Champions owner Miles Wolff.
“The people that own the Redblacks have experience in running sports franchises and they have local ties,” said Mayor Jim Watson. “Secondly, Sam Katz has a very solid track record of probably the most-successful semi-pro baseball team…in Canada.”
Watson adds that he's not concerned by OSEG now having another site to run, saying that there isn't exactly a long list of people looking to own a sports franchise in Ottawa.
The baseball stadium lease will now go to city council for final approval.
