Swift Current 57’s reach new three year agreement for use of Mitchell Field

The Swift Current 57’s will be able to call Mitchell Field home for another three seasons after reaching a new three year lease agreement for the facility with the City of Swift Current.

Swift Current City Council approved the new agreement during their January 11th meeting, with the 57’s now circling May 30th on there calendar as their potential home opener for the 2021 Western Canadian Baseball League season.

In his report to council, Jim Jones, General Manager of Community Services, noted that new partnership agreement includes details of an operational partnership of the 57’s Clubhouse which was not in their previous agreement. The terms of the clubhouse agreement will result in the city and the 57’s sharing the clubhouse utility accounts on a 50-50 basis.

“The new thing is the utility which we share 50/50, that’s because the clubhouse is actually a city facility regardless of how it was built. And for the period that it is not in use we agreed we would pick up the utility amounts in order to maintain it during say the winter time when it’s not being used for ball,” explained Chief Administrative Officer Tim Marcus.

With a per game cost of $256 for the next three years, Marcus noted the agreement contains a slight adjustment to account for the use of the lights for night games.

Councillor Ryan Switzer said he was very happy to see the City moving ahead with this agreement.

“The Western Canada Baseball League is an increasingly growing and evolving league, and with that the financial obligations of its member teams are becoming steeper. Over the last few years we’ve seen a couple of Saskatchewan-based teams no longer able to compete in the league. So it’s excellent that the City of Swift Current is a good partner with our 57’s,” Switzer said.

Councillor Ryan Plewis pointed out that a partnership agreement signed in November 2018 to develop a suitable clubhouse for the team was an important agreement for the long term viability of the franchise.

“When you look around the league, whether its issues of recruitment or attracting fans, but particularly getting talent to commit to coming up to play, Swift Current was a fair ways behind some of the other clubs. In fact I would say the vast majority of the clubs in the league in terms of what we could offer in terms of capital, just the clubhouse for players, stands, just the whole atmosphere of what we’re able to provide for this team was not really up to snuff.”

“As a result of this agreement we are able to remedy that. We’re able to put the 57’s in a spot where they can compete for some talent,” Plewis said of the clubhouse partnership agreement.

He noted that often times players are attracted to larger locations, so the 57’s are now better able to recruit because of the addition of the clubhouse and a strengthened partnership with the City of Swift Current.

“If we’re not willing to do these sorts of things we are going to see these types of entities just disappear in our community. And that’s not something that I think is good for, certainly not for the 57’s, but also not for the City of Swift Current.”