From Staff Reports 

In what could be described as a squeeze play, Asheville Tourists’ team President Brad DeWine said flatly Feb. 3 that, unless financing for $30 million-plus in improvements at McCormick Field is settled by April 1, then 2023 will be the final season in Asheville for the Minor League baseball team, which will be forced to relocate to another city. 

Dewine emphasized the deadline during his address at an early-morning issues meeting of the Asheville-based Council of Independent Business Owners at UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center.

The baseball magnate spoke for about 13 minutes, noting that he was intentionally leaving the remainder of his alotted time (17 minutes) to field questions from the CIBO audience. Between 50 and 60 people attended the breakfast meeting. 

The other presentation at the meeting was on Buncombe County’s proposed update of its Comprehensive Plan. (For details on that proposal, see the separate story on Page A7.)

Moderating the meeting in place of CIBO President Buzzy Cannady was John Carroll, the pro-business group’s past president. Carroll triggered some chuckles from meeting attendees when, with a smile, he wryly quipped that Cannady’s birthday “was this week — all week!”

More seriously, he said of the meeting’s presentations, “Where else could you get this much information — this early — in the morning?”

CIBO had listed on its agenda that DeWine would be giving a “report on what it will take to keep the Asheville Tourists Baseball Club in Asheville.”

In introducing DeWine, Carroll said, “We’ve heard lots of things about funding for this new stadium, but we don’t really know how it will work....”

In finishing his introduction of DeWine, Carroll, the CIBO meeting moderator, asked the meeting attendees, “We want to keep the Asheville Tourists here, right?”

 A number of those at the meeting murmered their support for keeping the baseball team in Asheville, although the response was decidedly subdued.

DeWine opened his address on a light note, asserting that “I’m a Northerner, but I’ve been here (down South in Asheville) for 12 years now.” His ties to the city have grown ever deeper, he said, even noting that two of his children were born in Asheville-based Mission Hospital.

Then, cutting to the chase, the baseball team chief said, “If we cannot fund these ($30 million-plus) upgrades, then 2023 will be the last season for the Asheville Tourists in Asheville... This (decision) is mandated by Major League Baseball.”

After a pause, DeWine noted, “Our (the baseball team’s) economic impact to Buncombe County —  every year — is $9.8 million.”

He added, “We (the team) will pay in rent $9.5 million over the next 20 years to assist with the renovations,” as its share of the $30 million-plus total estimated cost.

Since 1897, 547 former players for the Asheville Tourists “have gone on to play in Major League Baseball —  that’s a big number,” DeWine said. “I don’t know if it’s a record,” but he said that that number surely must rank at least near the top among its Minor League peers.

“In April 2024, we will celebrate our 100th birthday,” when the age of McCormick Field — on April 3, 2024 — will be 100 years old, DeWine noted. (“The (was) park opened in 1924, renovated in 1959, and renovated again for the 1992 season,” according to Wikiwand.com.)

In touting “the  immeasurables” as “the most important part of the game” provided to the community by the Tourists, he said McCormick Field ranks as “the only place” of its kind locally to attend — and enjoy -— a pro baseball game.

“It’s the last thing left for the locals,” DeWine said, his voice rippling with enthusiasm for the joy of attending baseball games, triggering some smiles among some of the meeting attendees.

After another brief pause, he asserted, “The No. 1 reason we’re here is not baseball. It (the stadium — and, by tradition, the team) belongs to the (Asheville) community, where it’s located.”

As for baseball game attendance in general, DeWine noted, “It’s a game of numbers, but everything that really counts... you can’t put on an Excel Spreadsheet....”

Rhetorically, he queried, “People ask me all of the time… What can they do” to help keep the team in Asheville — and ensure that the $30 million-plus in improvements are funded by the deadline? 

In answering his own question, DeWine said, “Tell your friends and neighbors how important it is” to keep the Tourists in Asheville.

As for the deadline, he added, “We’ve been talking about this (the needed funding for stadium improvements) since 2016.” Since he recently spoke out on the funding deadline, DeWine said he had received at least 6,000 emails, mostly supporting funding for the team.

He then stated, “This isn’t just about baseball. We hear stories about this all the time.” For instance, DeWine noted that he and his staff frequently hear from parents who marvel that their youngsters put away their cellphones — for the first time in recent memory — to watch a Tourists’ baseball game, along with being thrilled with, and tuned-into, the excitement that is going with the game in the stadium and the colorful antics of the fans. 

“It’s just so much more than baseball,” he reiterated, in closing his presentation.