As managing member and CEO of the Boise Hawks, I felt it necessary to provide the facts behind the eight-year project that the team has been working on that has now become known as the Boise multi-purpose stadium.
As you may have read in last Sunday’s paper, Idaho Stampede owner Bill Ilett had some, let’s say, misguided perceptions about the project (“Boise, sports leaders must work together on venue issue’’).
To begin, Mr. Ilett has never asked for, nor offered, any real input on the project with our team. He also doesn’t seem to understand that this project is not all about the Hawks, but about an opportunity that the Hawks have presented to the city along with solutions to other uses that a venue like this could provide.
Targeting this project as a “baseball stadium,” that Mr. Ilett claims it will be, is simply ignorant of the facts of the project scope and minimizing the reality of what this venue would contain.
The venue has been slated as a multi-purpose operation that would contain a high school football/soccer/baseball venue for Boise schools; an outdoor concert venue that would meet the standards to bring in more nationally renowned acts; a variety of special events that would bring additional foot traffic to downtown; a possible venue for Boise State women’s soccer; and a new USL soccer team for Boise to call its own.
USL is a minor-league level brand of soccer that feeds into USL Tier 1 programs and the MLS, the top U.S. professional soccer tier. An agreement by two Treasure Valley residents and myself has been made with the USL to bring a franchise to this great city, should a proper venue be available.
Of course, the driving forcebehind this venue would be the Hawks baseball events. However, to call this a “baseball stadium” is to miss the mark by a mile.
Other facts that Mr. Ilett is not privy to, nor has he asked if anything of the sort was in the works, is that I have committed to the mayor that the city of Boise would receive a commitment letter from our ownership group that we will not relocate the Hawks with the advent of this venue. He has my personal promise to bring the soccer team to town and that we would manage the facility for the city, allowing this to be a “turnkey” operation for the city.
To compare this situation to Reno is an insult to the intelligence of the people of Boise. I should also comment that while I am the managing member of the team, and yes I do live out of state, there are owners who live in Boise, a fact not mentioned by Ilett.
Not only that, but many Boise residents were approached about buying or investing in the Hawks, of which Mr. Ilett is included, and nobody wanted to do so. How do you become a “local” team if there aren’t willing buyers?
Much to our benefit, this became a wonderful opportunity for us. I and a group of investors from out of state gladly jumped at the chance to further the legacy of Hawks baseball in the Treasure Valley. Now we look to grow our relationship with the city and region by bringing a soccer team to town and helping the city of Boise down a path toward having a “jewel” of a venue in the Northwest region.
Being from Houston, I am not there on a daily basis. But we believe in the city of Boise and the Treasure Valley, so much so that we want to do more with the area. To suggest that we want to move is simply not true.
Our current venue, also privately owned, which Mr. Ilett left out, is in need of assistance like CenturyLink Arena, but to a much more significant level. Currently, all Memorial Stadium can provide is Hawks baseball, but it is very inadequate in many ways for the fans and the team. But with a new venue, the area will get a whole lot more, including a significant benefit to the downtown sector and the Boise/Treasure Valley community.
It appears that Mr. Ilett’s op-ed piece was somewhat self-serving and certainly uninformed.
Instead of bashing the city and its efforts to add to the area, I would ask that Mr. Ilett and other community leaders get more involved and figure out how to enhance this multi-use stadium project and bring solutions to how we can improve all venues and build the convention center so we can develop an even more thriving and vibrant city of Boise than it already is.
