Pensacola Independent News

NEWS | Vol. 6, No. 35, August 31, 2006
(Red, White & Screwed)
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Montgomery mayor talks about waterfront ballparks

In 1999, Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright earned election on a platform of unifying the city and redeveloping its downtown. He proposed a new, riverfront minor league baseball stadium in Montgomery’s downtown as the cornerstone of his redevelopment plan.
Even though at the time of the vote Montgomery didn’t have a minor league time, Bright persuaded his City Council members in December 2002 to approve a $26 million baseball stadium financed entirely with public funds.
Ballpark opponents labeled Bright a “scoundrel” and vowed that he would never be re-elected mayor or to any other office. He won re-election by a landslide. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays relocated their Double-A team from Orlando to Montgomery and the team played its first game in the new baseball stadium in April 2004.
Bright traveled to Pensacola on Aug. 22. The Independent News sat down with him to discuss the Montgomery baseball park—Riverfront Stadium—and Pensacola’s Community Maritime Park, which also includes a downtown multi-purpose baseball park along with commercial and office space, a Maritime Museum, UWF classrooms and labs, outdoor amphitheatre, waterfront park and other amenities that Pensacola residents will vote on Sept. 5.

IN: How did downtown Montgomery get from where it was 10 years ago, which was decaying, to where it is now?
BRIGHT: A plan. We had to get people to come together. Forming a plan is much more difficult than you think. People can come up with their opinions, but no one knows for sure what will be successful.

IN: When you ran for mayor in 1999, you beat the incumbent Emory Folmer. Was it an easy race?
BRIGHT: Folmer had been the mayor for 22 years. People realized it was time to move and do something else. They gave me the privilege of leading the city in a new direction and I’ve been doing it ever since.

IN: What role did Montgomery’s baseball stadium play in the redevelopment of its downtown?
BRIGHT: The baseball stadium has been better than we ever expected. We had studied it and done our pro formas, so that we could make an educated decision on whether baseball would fit Montgomery. We even visited cities that had constructed baseball stadiums in their downtown areas.

IN: Did you find any downtown minor league baseball stadiums that had failed?
BRIGHT: None. All the stadiums were quite successful and the areas around the ballparks—that had been neglected and blighted—were revitalized.

IN: Was building the baseball stadium an easy decision for Montgomery?
BRIGHT: No, it wasn’t. I had a lot of naysayers. We had studied it for 15 years and that’s too long. The previous mayor kept saying that, if they want a stadium, let the private developers or the team owner build it. That was the mentality Mayor Folmer had. When I came on board, we put together a plan that showed we could be successful, if the City of Montgomery built the stadium.

IN: How much did the city spend?
BRIGHT: We went to the bond market for $26 million. We probably have close to $30 million in the baseball stadium now. Every penny was from public financing. I thought the people were going to run me out of town, when I told them that. But we convinced them by doing our homework. Also, I promised the people of Montgomery that I would not build the stadium on their backs. We wouldn’t raise property or sales taxes to pay for it. Instead, we used revenues generated from the stadium itself and a 1 ½-cent lodging tax to pay for it.

IN: Have you meet the ballpark’s projected revenues?
BRIGHT: We’ve met all those projections and are actually ahead of schedule. At the rate people are attending our stadium, we could possibly pay this off within eight to 10 years.

IN: How does Montgomery compare with Pensacola in population?
BRIGHT: The Metropolitan Statistical Area for Montgomery is about 375,000 people. Pensacola’s MSA is over 400,000. You’re also guaranteed more people being available to attend the games.

IN: You’ve looked over the Community Maritime Park plan. What do you think of it?
BRIGHT: Phenomenal. You’ve got some built-in guarantees. You have a beautiful bay. We had the muddy Alabama River that we had to build our stadium on. You’ve got people already coming to Pensacola to enjoy your beautiful beaches. They can visit the beach during the day and then take in a ball game at night.

IN: What impact is baseball having on downtown Montgomery after dark?
BRIGHT: We used to fold up the sidewalks after 5 p.m. every day. People would go home and you wouldn’t see anybody downtown. Now, the downtown is alive. Last Saturday evening, our Riverfront amphitheater had 4,000 people enjoying an outdoor concert on the Alabama River. Just a half a block away, another 7,400 were watching a baseball game in the stadium. We’ve never had a traffic jam in downtown Montgomery, until that Saturday night.

IN: Is a baseball stadium solely a destination spot, where fans only attend the games and then go home? What are you seeing?
BRIGHT: No. Frankly, it’s about numbers. You got to get people in a location before you can get private investors interested—that’s what drives investment. We’re having old warehouses in our downtown being snapped up. A number are being converted into loft apartments, retail spaces and restaurants because of the success of the baseball stadium. I just signed a letter of understanding with a Birmingham developer, who will build 60 loft apartments just across the street from the baseball stadium.

IN: Is Montgomery’s ballpark more than just a stadium?
BRIGHT: Absolutely. It’s a true multi-purpose stadium. We recently had the Boy Scouts camp out in the stadium. We dimmed the lights so it was like a bright moonlight for the kids. We’ve had weddings in our baseball stadium. We’ve also had numerous concerts. The band Alabama did a benefit for the Hurricane Katrina victims. We raised almost $100,000. Our stadium has a huge screen. We’ve turned the stadium into a movie theater with people sitting in the stands and on the field watching movies on the big screen.

IN: What words of wisdom can you offer Pensacolians?
BRIGHT: I caution the people of Pensacola not to blink. If you blink, this opportunity might pass you by. There are worse things that can happen. This baseball stadium is American pie. Don’t blink.

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