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Ford Park
Ford Park
The Jefferson County Entertainment Complex, currently known as Ford Park, will soon see a $1.5 million dollar facelift, as each of the 12 baseball fields on the multi-acre property are scheduled to receive new turf this summer.
According to Claudio Oliveira, who serves as general manager for the facility, the plan is to have all of the fields re-turfed before opening day of the fall playing season on Sept. 10. More than 110 teams will compete in the World Series Tournament at Ford Park this week, filling hundreds of hotel rooms locally, and giving a much-needed boost to the local economy, elected officials heard at the Jefferson County Commissioners Court meeting on June 20. Oliveira requested, and was granted, a $750,000 emergency grant request approved and sourced through the Jefferson County Tourism Committee Hotel Occupancy Tax allocation, and $750,000 reallocated from remaining funds previously assigned for the Keith Lake Fish Pass repairs.
“We’re in the position now where the most recent replacement was 2015 at field one, and prior to that were two other instances where some of the fields were replaced in 2007 and 2012,” said Oliveira, who also informed the court that there is an eight to ten-year integrity of the turf.
“It’s a thriving business, and I think all of you are aware of the economic impact Ford Fields brings to the region, which was $3.5 million over the last 12 months,” Oliveira advised commissioners in a March 21 meeting, where the purchase was first presented to the public.
Oliveira told The Examiner that roughly $70,000 in repairs have been recently made due to safety concerns, but that replacement includes brand new turf on the mounds.
“We did get a quote of about $1.5 million to replace the turf on all 12 fields,” said Oliveira, but that’s only if all of the fields are done at once.
The $1.5 million price tag came from KMI Sports of Dripping Springs, which provided the most recent repairs undertaken to the fields; however, the purchasing department reported that staff intends to stop shop around to ensure that the county receives the best work for taxpayer money.
In related upcoming changes, commissioners also approved specifications for requesting a proposal to re-bid the naming rights package at Ford Park. According to Beaumont City Auditor Patrick Swain, naming rights for the entertainment complex brought in $220,000 annually from 2003 to 2017; $183,700 in 2008 and 2019; $192,885 in 2020 and 2021, and $100,000 in 2022. The county’s naming rights contract with Southeast Texas Ford Dealers expired Dec. 31, 2022, causing funding to cease, and no one has responded to the county’s pending request for naming rights proposals.