Eugene City Council votes in May to include bond measure to finance new stadium | Eugene City Council

EUGENE, Ore. – The City of Eugene City Council has voted to propose a bond measure to finance a new stadium for the Eugene Emeralds. This is a necessary measure to keep the team in Eugene.

PK Park, the Eugene Emeralds’ traditional home, is inadequate for the team’s needs as determined by Major League Baseball. To meet MLB requirements and remain in Eugene, the team would need to build a brand new, modern stadium. However, building such a stadium would cost close to $100 million.

Eugene City Councilman Randy Groves said, “The Ems do exist on a timeline, and their problem is not finding a place to land, but finding a place to land within the community.” ” he said.

The Eugene Emeralds, MLB, and local and state governments were able to secure funding for a large portion of the bill, but approximately $15 million remains to be secured. Eugene Emerald officials asked the Eugene City Council to approve a bond measure to bet on the people of Eugene to raise that $15 million.

At its Feb. 21 work session, the Eugene City Council chose to approve putting the bond measure before voters in May.

“We’ve proven over the past 15 years how important this is to our community,” said Eugene Emerald General Manager Alan Benavidez. “It’s about more than baseball, and we’re really excited to see this new facility come to fruition and what it can do for the community.”

The new facility will not only be a stadium for the Ems, but will also be a multipurpose stadium that will be used for other sports, concerts, graduation ceremonies, etc., and Eugene City Councilman Randy Groves said it will have a positive impact on the city. He said it would be.

“Yes, we have homelessness and other big issues, but the other thing we need to understand is that the people who live here every day and whose work keeps this community going… We need to make sure we have something to reward.” Groves said.

But the proposal has faced criticism, especially from people who live near the Lane County Fairgrounds, where the stadium would be built.

“I don’t want Ems to leave right now,” said Christina Beneda, a Eugene resident. “I’ve been to hundreds of games, I’ve taken my kids to games, and it’s not appropriate.” She said, “Any outdoor stadium does not belong in the neighborhood.”

Critics of the bonding plan worry about the noise, traffic and congestion the stadium would bring to the neighborhood.

“I’ve lived here since 1982 and I see events that take place at fairgrounds, most of which don’t affect us much, but larger venues do and the noise “I can’t imagine there being an outdoor baseball field there where you can hear the “crowd,” Beneda said.

This bond measure was also criticized by city council members.

Councilman Alan Zelenka asked, “How does this affect our future questions?” “Are we going to eat into taxpayers’ desire for basic services?”

“Is a baseball field the best use of the county’s assets? Do we need an indoor sports facility rather than an outdoor sports facility that is only available for a few months of the year? Do we need a convention center? Do we also need a community event space? Will it benefit our community in the long term beyond this project? Or is the baseball team asking us and telling us they have a very specific schedule, so we can’t get ahead of the curve? “Did you make this decision?” asked City Councilor Lindsey Leach. “There are significant gaps in our budget. In the short and long-term future of our city, we are considering cuts to services such as the library, fire, police…”

But Benavidez said he knows there are skeptics, but that won’t stop him from fighting.

“The end of the story is in sight,” Benavidez said. “I can see how this is going to end and that people are going to like it, but I’m sure that’s the vision and I know there’s going to be a lot of skepticism,” he said. There’s also a huge amount of support, so I just keep on fighting, and I know we can get there. ”

Today was a big win for Benavidez and everyone who plays on and works for the team, but it’s also one of many steps forward.

“This is an important victory to ensure we get on the ballot, and it’s very exciting, but it’s not the end of the road,” Benavidez said. “So you still have to post bail, right? That’s still a lot of work.”

But before the bond was permanently passed to voters, the City Council asked Lane County and Eugene Emerald for more information about plans for the stadium. If those details are not submitted by a later date, the City Council will remove the bond measure from the ballot. Once these details are received, Eugene residents will have the option to vote for or against approval of the measure on their May 2024 ballot.