good for Savannah!

The headline in yesterday's local newspaper proclaimed the latest concerning my lovely boys of summer.
City seeks Gnats' 2016 plans
Would Hardball Capital, owner of the Savannah Sand Gnats, be making use of Grayson Stadium for their spring and summer season in 2016?

You may be wondering why there would even be a question about that. After all, the Gnats have held court in that historic place in Daffin Park for... well... as long as they have been in existence. And before them, the Savannah Braves and Savannah Cardinals played baseball there within its walls.
Many other teams have held their sports competitions there, too. It's even played host to wrestlers and Willie Nelson and beer fests, too.
But, back to the Sand Gnats.
Their current owner (of the past two or three years), maker of the money, is John Katz. He wanted the taxpayers of Savannah to build a new baseball stadium for him and has been lobbying for that ever since he arrived here.
Ludicrous, right?
And he wanted the stadium to be built downtown, to draw in more tourists.
Even more ludicrous.
And the cost of this new stadium would be greater than $10,000,000.
Most ludicrous of all.
For one, organized baseball has better than one hundred years of history here and much of that has occurred at Grayson Stadium. If he were truly interested in having baseball on the agenda of history buffs, then what better location could be dreamt of than this one?
For two, the Truman Parkway has made access from downtown to midtown very easy. Tourists can pop onto the Parkway from several places downtown (Bay Street, Liberty Street, and President Street) and be at the ballpark within twenty minutes or so, thanks to the Victory Street exit. Parking would be a cinch, too, and absolutely free.
For three, the majority of attendees at the baseball games are locals, such as myself. Why steal funds from my pocket to build a new locale when I am already supporting these boys of summer?
Sure, the stadium needs some renovations, like new locker rooms, for one. But, as I recall, those were on the list of items to be addressed several years ago, when the City of Savannah approved the needed funds. Only some of those improvements were actually performed. Why not complete the repairs and changes?
A new stadium, located downtown, is not the answer.
My gratitude to my representatives in the Savannah City Council for not caving to the demands of this man.
Now the ball is in his hands.
Will he choose to keep the team here? Or will he opt to sell it, as have those other owners of the past two decades, who fled Savannah after they were denied a new stadium?
Same dilemma, new people.
It can hardly be called "news", can it?
Real news would be if the owner were to build a new sports complex out of his own pocket and then move the team to that new locale. Would fans follow?
But that isn't going to happen. Spend their own money???
No fat Katz do such things.
Meanwhile, I plan to enjoy my boys of summer this year.
We'll see about the summer of 2016 when it gets a bit closer.