Nashville Sounds might be on the move
Pete Weber might now be the voice of the NHL Nashville Predators, but baseball, and especially minor league baseball is still where his heart is. Pete was up here at Dunn Tire Park this spring during the Sabres playoff run, and we asked him how things were progressing for the proposed new ballpark in downtown Nashville.
“Not good”, Pete forlornly replied, then telling us that the entire plan was in disarray. The $47-million ballpark was to be financed through a consortium of twelve banks, and the remaining portion of construction costs would have been assumed by a developer named Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, Their vision saw the ballpark as the central part of a $200 million retail, entertainment, and residential complex, which was expected to continue the revitalization of Nashville’s “SoBro” (South of Broadway) district.
Pete told us that the stadium had even sold naming rights. “First Tennessee Field” died in mid April when the developer couldn’t provide specific financing plans and a timetable as required by the Nashville City Council.
Nashville Sounds (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) GM Glenn Yaeger now sounds serious when he says there’s a chance the team could leave town because of the lack of a suitable venue. It’s been known for years that Greer Stadium didn’t meet MLB facility requirements, but with a new downtown ballpark in the works that really didn’t matter. Now that the Sounds’ quest for a new downtown ballpark is dead, the team is looking at alternatives.
Buffalo baseball fans can well remember the Nashville Sounds, who were locked in an epic month long battle with the Bisons for the American Association division pennant back in 1990. That fight took a one game playoff to decide, and that game took 18 innings to complete, one of the most dramatic games ever played in Buffalo and one that ended brutally for Buffalo fans. Nonetheless, those were heady days for Buffalo baseball - packed houses night after night, the announcement of a MLB expansion team seemingly imminent, and Buffalo craving its first minor league championship in the Modern Era.
It was a great rivalry back then. If the Nashville Sounds were no more, that would not be a cause for celebration.
