$10 million multi-purpose stadium scheduled to be completed for 2019 season
The Village of Ashwaubenon is excited to announce that it has come to terms with Big Top Baseball, the owner of the Green Bay Bullfrogs, for a proposed multi-purpose stadium in the Village of Ashwaubenon. The project is currently scheduled to be completed in the Spring of 2019 and will host Green Bay Bullfrogs baseball, summer collegiate soccer and other community events. The stadium will be located immediately south of Village Hall on Holmgren Way and seat approximately 2,500 fans and have a capacity of 4,000 for athletic events. The $10 million dollar facility will be paid for with a combination of lease revenue from Big Top and tax increment financing revenues from additional projects located along the north and east ends of Oneida Street.
Big Top Baseball owns and operates four Northwoods League baseball teams across the state of Wisconsin and manages Breese Stevens Field in Madison. In 2017, Big Top hosted 200 events and attracted more than 550,000 guests to its facilities.
“Since purchasing the Bullfrogs more than four years ago, we have worked diligently with the City of Green Bay to develop a long-term facility improvement solution. Unfortunately, the lack of a firm solution and the continued uncertainty required us to pursue other options to secure our long-term future in the Green Bay market,” Big Top owners Conor Caloia, Vern Stenman and Steve Schmitt said in a joint statement. “We would like to thank Mayor Jim Schmitt and Economic Development Director Kevin Vonck for their tireless efforts over the past four years and regret that we were unable to finalize a solution.”
“We are excited about the vision we share with the Village of Ashwaubenon and look forward to building a facility that is a unique asset to Northeast Wisconsin and something that the entire region will enjoy,” Big Top said.
“We were approached with this opportunity to establish another community attraction as a complement to the Resch Center and Ashwaubenon Performing Arts Center and found it to be a good fit. It is more than a baseball stadium –it will be a venue for sports and other community events. We see this as a great addition to the Village to expand our sports and entertainment district in a family-friendly environment and will create a bridge to Ashwaubenon’s successful retail district,” Village President Mary Kardoskee stated.
The parties will present a lease agreement on February 27,2018, for Village Board review and action based on terms previously considered by the Village Board.
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Entering its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 185 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (LAD) and Lucas Duda (TBR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
