BRISTOL, Va. -- Specific details regarding the probable cost and location of a new baseball stadium in Bristol, Virginia, are still being worked out, Mayor Becky Nave said.
On Thursday the city announced it has just reached an agreement with Boyd Sports of Knoxville to build a new facility for both Virginia High School and the Bristol State Liners to again play baseball on the Virginia side of town.
The announcement didn't include the likely cost, how it would be paid for and where it might be located.
"We do not have the answers to those questions yet. The details are still being worked through," Nave told the Bristol Herald Courier. "We should be able to say something soon, but we're still working through that. Nothing is final [regarding cost and funding sources]. We are still working through those details."
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Boyd Sports, which owns the State Liners, spent much of the past three years collaborating with Bristol Tennessee to try and establish a new baseball field but those efforts were unsuccessful. Boyd previously agreed to invest $2 million into projects on the Tennessee side.
After agreeing to a total $7 million renovation of Tod Houston Memorial Field this spring, Bristol Tennessee City Council, in June, voted to rescind that agreement after school leaders raised concerns on multiple fronts.
Mayor Nave said the city is looking at potential sites plus considering a renovation of Boyce Cox Field, where VHS currently plays.
"We have several properties in mind, as well as could we go back and do a redo of our current stadium. We are looking at all of the options to figure out the best place to put the stadium," Nave said. "We think the sooner the better. We are working through the timeline but I would say as soon as possible."
Nave said the city and Boyd Sports have been speaking for a short time.
"Over time, as the conversations with Bristol Tennessee were going back and forth on whether they could make it happen or not, they [Boyd] started talking to us a little bit more. I have to give credit to our City Manager Randy Eads who has handled a lot of those questions and feeling out where we were at," Nave said.
Eads expects the project will be completed in roughly a year and half.
"The hope between Boyd Sports and the city of Bristol is that we have the stadium opened by 2027, so we have a lot of work to do in a very short period of time in order to get that done," Eads said. "We look forward to working with Boyd Sports. They've done this not just across the region but they do it in Knoxville and I'm pretty sure we can done by spring of 2027."
Plans call for the new stadium to be designed to accommodate concerts or other outdoor events, which gives the city other opportunities which could be "huge," the mayor said.
Nave said she's received nothing but positive feedback about the announcement.
"I have heard from so many people and they are so excited about baseball coming back to Bristol Virginia," Nave said. "We've been heartbroken since it left and we're thrilled its coming back. The folks I have heard from -- people who have children on the high school baseball team to the old-timers who watching the Bristol Tigers like I was when I was little -- they are thrilled to have baseball back."
Twitter: @DMcGeeBHC
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