Local impact of Sky Sox move to Texas remains unclear
Now that the departure of the Colorado Springs Sky Sox AAA minor league baseball team appears official, questions remain about the local impact.
With the team expected to head to San Antonio in 2019, it’s unclear how the move might affect Colorado Springs’ economy. Sales at restaurants, sporting goods stores and other local businesses could be affected.
“I went to games between seven and 10 times every season,” said Mike Cooley, a Sky Sox fan. “I took relatives to games, too.”
Paul Korney, owner of the nearby Cleats Bar & Grill, said it’s too early to guess what the impact will be.
“In three years anything can happen,” he said. “We have good crowds before and after the games. We have promotions that give customers a free beer if they have a ticket.”
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers insisted that money is not an issue in the team’s move.
“All other major league franchise affiliations were not high on rotating their pitchers through Colorado Springs because of the problems of pitching at high altitude,” he said.
Suthers said the team’s ownership and management is considering another move, one that would bring a Class A team from Billings, Montana, to replace the Sky Sox.
“The question is whether fans would support a Class A team the same way they supported a Class AAA team,” he said. “I think they would, but realistically we have to acknowledge there’s a loss in stature.”
Suthers said the loss of the Sky Sox could affect the success of a proposed downtown sports and events center that is one of the venues in the City for Champions project.
“We have a consultant studying whether private money could be raised for it,” he said. “I’ve got to think that the team leaving will impact the analysis in some respects. Whether it winds up being a deal-breaker or not, I don’t know.”
Suthers said if the facility is built, it could be successful if shared by a new baseball team, local college baseball teams and local soccer teams.
“The Sky Sox played 80 home games every summer,” he said. “A short-season Class A team would play 38. That’s a lot of open dates we’d need to fill.”
