What I consider to be a funny story, has hit two newspapers this morning, one in the Telegraph Herald, and one in the Dyersville Commercial, that finds Go The Distance Baseball CEO, Denise Stillman, making a major announcement. It’s interesting that this comes one day after an article in the Herald, which in a way conveyed that things are not so rosy for this Chicago developer, and her misplaced mega sports complex, as she would have you believe. The TH Online story broke first, with news that ASBH ‘isn’t just for kids anymore’. According to Ms. Stillman, a Boston-based independent professional baseball organization, called The Northern League, has made a deal to play pro-ball at the planned complex next to the “Field of Dreams” movie site. Here is the TH Online link: thonline/news/breaking/article_c741594c-0675-11e3-bda0-0019bb30f31a.html Check out this quote from the story: ‘The yet-unnamed Northern League team will play in one of what Stillman had been calling a “ceremony field,” a larger stadium with more seating and amenities than the 24 planned tournament fields. Plans for the stadium will have to be modified to include even more amenities, Stillman said, like clubhouses with showers for the players.’ A further quote: ‘“It’s a wonderful mix,” Stillman said. “It gives our players and their families that come to the tournaments something new and exciting to see, and hopefully catch a game at the professional league level.”’ So now she’s going to build a stadium??!! I seriously had a good laugh this morning after reading this ridiculous proposal! She can’t even afford to build six diamonds right now, or anytime soon, and she’s talking about including something so insanely overextended?!! But more of my thoughts in a moment. The Dyersville Commercial followed the TH Online ‘breaking news’ story with their take, divulging a few more details: dyersvillecommercial/news/ballpark-heaven-is-home-base-for-ball-club/article_291f3c04-067d-11e3-9ceb-0019bb30f31a.html Normally, this type of announcement would be posted solely on the All-Star Ballpark Heaven Facebook page, and it did appear there around the same time as these stories in the local papers. However, I believe we’re seeing this plastered in the media today for another reason. The following statements I’m about to make should be considered my opinion, but several people I spoke with this morning, after the story broke, are in full agreement with my thoughts and remarks. So here you go. The All-Star Ballpark Heaven development is seriously faltering. In fact, I believe it’s sinking fast! Dyersville Mayor Jim Heavens stated in yesterday’s article that investor confidence has come into question, due to the ongoing litigation with the City, the RAAC, and Ms. Stillman’s own company, Go The Distance Baseball, LLC. So what is happening? Denise Stillman is running around like a chicken without a head trying to save her traveling ball team dreams from going under, and she clearly felt the need to put this news out there; to entice investors that things are not all dark and gloomy about turning the “Field of Dreams” brand into a 24 baseball diamond theme park. She’s trying to put a smile on the bad news that’s been circling her from the past several months. Dangle a new toy in the air for everyone to marvel at. Put lipstick on a corpse and say, “Look, doesn’t that make all the difference?” No, it does not. Denise doesn’t have all the money she needs to build ASBH, she’s scaled her plans down to six diamonds, yet talks about opening in the spring of 2014, while, quite contradictorily, states that she needs to collect the entire $70 mil. facility price tag before beginning construction. Talk about seriously mixed signals and messages!!! This idea for a stadium on the FOD property is the most preposterous and laughable concept she’s ever come up with, especially looking at the sour grapes she now holds in her hands!!! The investors are being scared off, and rightly so. With the project mired in court battles, being harmful to local farmers ability to stay in business, manipulating and disrupting the residents and town of Dyersville in general, and continuing to garner a strong and growing opposition to her entire plan, it’s not surprising that she probably can’t even get anyone to lend her 20 bucks! I wouldn’t be surprised if this project goes belly up in the very near future. And that, at least in this post, is the end of my opinion. The Northern League, based in Boston, MA., also has made an announcement on their official website about being included in the overall All-Star Ballpark Heaven plan: northernleague.co/ Don’t you think they should know what’s REALLY going on?
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 19:37:32 +0000