PARKERSBURG - Officials are still gathering information as talks continue regarding a possible pro baseball team coming to Parkersburg.
On Wednesday, local officials met with Frontier League representatives, architects from Astorino and AECOM, a company that could perform a feasibility study for the area on the prospect of creating a Frontier League team and stadium in the area.
The meeting was held by the sports arm of the Wood County Economic Development Authority. Sam Winans and Fred Earley are co-chairs of the committee.
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Officials from Astorino provide a conceptual drawing of potential Frontier League stadiums in Parkersburg and Bridgeport Wednesday during a meeting with local officials.
Earley said this was his first meeting on the prospect of baseball, but at this point there is not a whole lot happening.
"We barely got a line in the water," he said.
Mayor Bob Newell said the group got additional information regarding a feasibility study for the area. Newell said the Washington Wild Things has offered to provide information that wouldn't need to be prepared in the study, thereby reducing the cost. Newell said that could knock down the price of the feasibility study 20-to-25 percent.
Officials do not know what a feasibility study would cost, much less who would fund it.
Newell said officials from AECOM said the study would be conducted in two parts.
"The first part is to do a study to see if anybody will come," he said. "If they don't, there is no point in doing the second part."
If there is interest in the team, Newell said the second part of the study would detail funding options, sources, sponsorships and naming rights.
Officials from Astorino provided conceptual drawings of a possible stadium on the Marmac property on Fort Boreman, as well as designs for the proposed Bridgeport team.
Earley expects officials will return with additional details regarding a feasibility study and the cost range. Newell said visiting officials could have the information back to local officials by the end of the week. That information will include sample lease agreements from other teams.
"To look at how these kinds of projects are funded and how the leases work," he said.
Earley said the possibility of a Frontier League team in Parkersburg would be a tremendous asset, but it was too early to make any commitments to the project.
"It would be a tremendous asset and drawing point for this area, both Ohio and West Virginia," Earley said. "Whether it is viable, I want to reserve judgment. I like to think it would, but it is way too soon to tell."
