Tuesday, January 06, 2015

Joplin City Council spends $220,000 for Blasters locker room, training facility

Joplin City Council Monday night approved the purchase of the Crosslines building for $220,000 to serve as a locker room and training facility for the Joplin Blasters, the minor league team which will play its first season this year.

From the KOAM report:

City officials say the purchase of the existing Crosslines building will cost $220,000, but saves the city money in the long-run.

"It will cost us a lot less to rehabilitate this facility as opposed to building a new locker room facility from scratch," said Chris Cotten, Parks and Recreation Director.

Cotten says the building already has adequate square footage for several professional baseball uses.

"Team offices, home locker room, away locker room, umpire changing areas, offices for the coaches of both teams," he said.

Crosslines will move to a new facility near the intersection of 3rd Avenue and School Street.
KOAM TV 7

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would like to know, am I the only one who thinks the blasters will be a complete bust and more than likely gone down the road in 5 years or less?

Anonymous said...

How can it be a minor league team when it's not affiliated with a major league team?

Anonymous said...

Spend, spend, spend.
How much longer will the Joplin voters put up with this?
RECALL THEM ALL.

Anonymous said...

7:06--you are not alone.

Anonymous said...

Randy, please cease referring to the Blasters as a "minor league" team. They are independent professional baseball, not minor leagues. It makes you as guilty as the parks and recreation director who sold this to the city council as "minor league baseball equivalent to AA baseball."
It's not. Not even close. The players on this team will be guys who are either hanging on to a long lost dream or undrafted guys trying to prove they deserve a shot at the pros. In public conversation in Joplin, the sentiment has been 5 years or less and the Blasters will be no more. I even heard some people placing bets the team will fold in two years and one guy was willing to wager they will never throw one pitch. This parks guy is spending this city into a larger hole than it's already in. This town won't support what it has let alone $10 tickets and $5 parking.

Anonymous said...

The players do not even earn enough to make a living. They owners are looking for host families to provide room and board for the players this team is a joke.

Anonymous said...

Fact: The financial report submitted by the team owners prior to the approval of the City Council clearly indicated that they were banking on having an average attendance that was over 400% larger than the average attendance of an average league game and adjusted for population of each market. In comparison, based on the population of Joplin and using their own league's attendance data, it is reasonable to expect that they would have an average attendance of 600 people, but stated in their financial report that their numbers were based on an average attendance of 3400. The numbers do not add up.

Anonymous said...

pRETTY SURE THIS IS THE GREATEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD. why all the doubt?! smALL PRICE TO PAY!!!

Anonymous said...

This is minor league baseball. It is independent ball, which just means it's not affiliated with the major league teams. However, MLB teams over the last several years have purchased contracts of players in this league. Some current and former members of this league have also played in the big leagues. It is better baseball than one might assume in terms of the play on the field. It is high A to double A equivalent. Those are the facts. It is professional baseball, regardless of how one wants to view it in their own mind.