That time year

If it is about two months to Opening Day, it must be time for an article about what is going on with a new stadium for the Beloit Snappers.

The topic of conversation at the Country Club of Beloit on Monday evening was as much about a new stadium as one that hasn’t been built.

The Beloit Professional Baseball Association, Inc., kicked off its 29th season for the Snappers with its sixth annual Winter Hot Stove Banquet. It featured current Minnesota Twin and former Snapper Brian Duensing, Twins legend and current special assistant Tony Oliva, Twins director of minor leagues Jim Rantz and former Twins general manager Terry Ryan, a Janesville native, who now is a senior advisor to the general manager.

It also included Snappers pitching coach Gary Lucas and new Snappers hitting coach Tommy Watkins.

And while members of the Twins organization glowed over sparkling new Target Field, set to host the Twins this spring, they were also mindful of the plight of their Class A affiliate, the Snappers, in an effort to build a new stadium.

Venerable Pohlman Field is a Midwest League staple and has hosted the Snappers since 1982. But it’s outdated, and if a new stadium isn’t built in the near future, the Snappers could be forced to leave Beloit.

...I'm sorry...did you just say 'Venerable'?

"We’re basically focusing on a plot of land right on the Interstate, basically right by where 43 and 90 share,” Vohs said. “We did a study last summer that came back positive, basically checking to see if the site was able to support a stadium.”

Vohs said that using tax dollars to finance the stadium would be “pretty much impossible.” As far as a timetable for construction, it’s definitely too early to tell. Vohs said the absolute earliest season to begin play in a new stadium would be 2012 if everything goes well.

“We don’t want to go and start showing pictures all around town or around the area, and then all of a sudden the money isn’t there,” Vohs said.

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