The Sallies-Baynard Stadium deal is no longer and I say, “Hurrah!” When I first heard of Sallies proposal to take over Baynard Stadium, I was quite skeptical. Sallies has a history in Delaware high school sports that is not so sporting.
The Baynard proposal had several items which I had a problem with:
– Sallies would lease the stadium from the city for 50 years with a 50 year option which seems to be to an an extravagant amount of time.
– Sallies would allow all that currently use the stadium currently use it under the same agreement. What about new schools or organizations, would they be allowed to use it? What if a school left the stadium deal for a season or two, would they be able to come back?
– Sallies has not raised all the $15 and $20 million yet for the renovations.
– Sallies says that “this could be a real economic development engine for the city.” Do they take us for morons. Stadiums, let alone high school stadiums, do not benefit the community financially.
But the crux of the issue is that I do not trust Sallies and it’s relationship to Delaware high school sports is why. Sallies has long been rumored to recruit players for their sports teams. These rumored recruits don’t always come from Delaware, but rather from the surrounding states. They usually play the minimal amount of matches against Delaware teams so that they can compete in the state championships with a stacked team from out-of-state.
Sallies doesn’t want to be the best sport schools in Delaware; they want to be one of the best sport schools in the nation. A Baynard Stadium deal would just be an extension of Sallies sports program that does not have Delaware or Wilmington’s best interest at heart. Sallies long history of not playing fair in high school sports leads me to believe they would not play fair in future access to Baynard Stadium.