Regina city council votes against commiting $100,000 for study on proposed baseball stadium

Regina city council voted against signing a letter of intent regarding the development of a new 3,500-seat baseball stadium.

The Regina Red Sox and Living Sky Sports had asked the city to sign a letter of intent to pursue development of the new stadium, and to commit to spending up to $100,000 for related exploratory work on its feasibility.

Council voted 7-3 against the proposal in a meeting on Wednesday.

Concillors did ask the Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) to look into the costs for a "needs assessment" for the stadium.

"I don't want to kill the idea of investigating a needs analysis," said Mayor Sandra Masters.

Council voted 10-0 in favour of that motion.

The total price tag for the stadium project hasn't been determined yet, but it's expected to cost $20 millionto $23 million, according to a city report. The club previously said it would put in around $5 million,and the rest of the money would have to come from the city and other funding that the city could access.

The Red Sox currently play their games at Currie Field, which has a seating capacity of 1,200. The team says that seating capacity no longer fits it's needs

Many delegates at the council meeting said Currie Field is not good enough, and that they want a new baseball stadium downtown.

Gary Brotzel, president of Regina Red Sox Baseball, spoke at the council meeting.

"All we need is the go ahead to move forward, put our heads together collectively with other levels of government, and come up with a cost effective plan," he said.

The proposed location for the new stadium isthe former Canadian Pacific Railyards lands, which the citypurchased in 2012.