IN A PICKLE:
Safety concerns postpone opening of baseball stadium in San Luis R.C.
SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Son. — Play ball! Uh, not so fast. As one of its last acts in September, the administration of the outgoing mayor inaugurated a new stadium here, declaring it ready to serve as the home field of the city’s semi-professional baseball team.
But the new administration the says stadium needs more work, including installation of railing and safety screens on stairs and along the different levels of the stands to prevent falls by fans
It won’t allow the Algodoneros de San Luis to play in the stadium until the additions are made, and the question now is whether it will ready for the start of the next season of the Mexican Northern League.
The stadium located in Bosque de la Ciudad, a wooded park on the city’s south side, was built at a cost of nearly 111 million pesos, or about $5.5 million in U.S. dollars, with most of the funds coming from the Mexican federal government. It seats 3,500 fans, although plans call for capacity to be doubled in future years.
The expansion notwithstanding, the stadium as is poses significant risks to the public, says Ricardo Lugo, who heads the city’s sports commission.
“Along the stairs there are open spaces through which people can fall to the floors below, and the box seats are practically a precipice. There’s nothing there to prevent people from falling three floors below.”
Finishing work also needs to be completed in the showers, locker rooms, clubhouse and team dugouts, he said, although those details don’t directly affect fan safety.
Santos Gonzalez Yescas, who succeeded Enrique Reina as mayor in September, announced recently Mexico’s president-elect, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, had committed to allocating an additional 38 million pesos, or nearly $1.9 million, to finish the work.
“We don’t know why it wasn’t completed as planned,” Lugo said. “The stadium should have been ready several years ago, but from the beginning of the project there were problems with the design and the characteristics of the construction materials. The project was suspended and there were changes.”
Bajo El Sol could not reach a spokesman for former Reina administration for comment.
Lugo said the additional funds from the federal government should be available no later than February, allowing work to begin immediately.
“The stadium was conceived for the Algodoneros de San Luis, and the intention is that it be used by the club in April, when the season in the Mexican Northern League begins.
Besides the Algodoneros, teams from Puerto Penasco and Caborca in Sonora and San Quintin, Tecate and Ensenada in Baja California make up the semi-pro league that grooms players for higher-level leagues in Mexico. The stadium was unveiled in an inauguration ceremony Sept. 9, but Lugo said the new administration didn’t become aware of the safety risks until after it came into office the following week.