Rick Fulton: Professional Baseball franchise will be placed at Charles Scwhab Park

ID

2

OrgName

Rick Fulton

PhysicalAddress

410 s 82 st

MailingAddress

Website

SocialMediaAccounts

@rickylee41

Name

ricky fulton

Title

EmailAddress

rickyfulton@gmail.com

Phone

+1 (140) 229-0192

Team

Yes

TeamExplanation

OrganizationalChart

President Rick Fulton Vice President Joel Fulton CFO Maureen Fulton

OtherCompletedProjects

Successfully coached little league baseball

ProposalTitle

Professional Baseball franchise will be placed at Charles Scwhab Park

TotalBudget

12000000.0

LB1024GrantFundingRequest

11550000.0

ProposalType

Combination of capital project and service/program

BriefProposalSummary

Our project will purchase and operate a professional baseball franchise which will play games in North Omaha's Charles Schwab Field Omaha. Our goal is to purchase a franchise in the American Association of Professional Baseball, which has a franchises in Lincoln and Sioux City among others cities. The downtown baseball stadium is woefully unused right now, and playing baseball in North Omaha will provide jobs for people from North Omaha. Many job seekers in North Omaha are hampered in finding work because of transportation issues. Employees could walk to work at the downtown ballpark. We will seek to acquire the franchise in time to begin play in the 2023 baseball season. Omaha has a long history of baseball play, and it's not right that the city has no baseball team to call our own. Having a baseball team downtown could foster a feeling of togetherness and identity for the citizens of North Omaha and Omaha. We propose acquiring a baseball franchise that will play in Charles Schwab Field Omaha. That baseball field right now is woefully underused, and North Omaha does not benefit from the few weeks of the year that baseball is now played there. We will set up a baseball team in the American Association league, and begin play in 2024. We will provide jobs for the people of North Omaha, and transportation will not be an issue because people could walk to work from North Omaha. This proposal will provide for economic development in the area of North Downtown near the baseball park; right now the ball field is a white elephant. We need to use it a lot more than we do now. Full time and part time jobs will be made available with our proposal.

Timeline

After we get the money, we can purchase the franchise in 2023. We can organize and begin play downtown in 2024

PercentageCompletedByJuly2025

0.99

FundingGoals

Fundamental Change (i.e., a proposal that will continue to elevate North or South Omaha's presence and perception within the region, significantly improving the lives of area residents through physical development) Long-Lasting Economic Growth (i.e., a proposal that will foster gainful employment opportunities and financial investment in the area, leading to the creation of generational wealth and widespread economic vitality in North and South Omaha) Transformational (i.e., a proposal that will help energize, recharge, or spur significant and favorable advancements in North or South Omaha's function or appearance)

Community Needs

Multimodal Transportation (i.e., enable connectivity through driving, biking, taking transit, walking, and rolling) Quality of Life (i.e., create or enhance natural spaces, mixed uses, parks, safety, etc.) Sustainable Community (i.e., create or enhance housing, services, education, civic uses, recreation, etc.)

OtherExplanation

ProposalDescriptionAndNeedsAlignment

We will acquire a baseball team that will play in the North Downtown baseball stadium. We then will be able to use the stadium more than a few weeks during the year. We will foster a feeling of togetherness, and bond together behind a baseball team.

VisioningWorkshopFindingsAlignment

Our proposal alligns with the Visioning Workshop Findings in that our downtown baseball stadium is woefully underused. Lack of jobs for youth in North Omaha means that baseball jobs would be welcome, and employees could walk to work. When attending the Visioning Workshop, I learned that the Legislative Committee welcomes all ideas, and this is a visionary idea.

PrioritiesAlignment

Our idea for a baseball franchise aligns with LB1024's strategic priorities because it will help stimulate the economy in the census tracts identified by the state which are in need of help partly because of the covid 19 outbreak.

EconomicImpact

Our baseball team will provide about 15 permanent jobs in the front office and about 75 jobs that will be available during the baseball season. Maybe more.

EconomicImpactPermanentJobsCreated

15

EconomicImpactTemporaryJobsCreated

75 temporary jobs a year during baseball season.

EconomicImpactWageLevels

For the front office jobs wages will be between $50K a year and $75 K a year.

EconomicImpactAlignProposedJobs

Young people from North Omaha will take these jobs which are close to where they live.

CommunityBenefit

Currently Omaha's downtown baseball park stands like a white elephant down there. Taking up space an impeding progress. Let's use the baseball stadium for games.

CommunityBenefitSustainability

Of course the project is sustainable. Baseball games and jobs will played six months of the year in pertuity.

BestPracticesInnovation

Baseball is not a now concept to Omaha. The Omaha Cardinals started in 1948. But pro ball will be new to the North Downtown Stadium

OutcomeMeasurement

Amount of attendance per game; how much concessions are sold; how much merchandise is sold.

OutcomeMeasurementHow

We will craft a yearly budget outlining our success.

OutcomeMeasurementCoinvestment

Yes it will be a catalyst; more use of the ballpark means more business will be created nearby.

Partnerships

No

PartnershipsOrgs

PartnershipsMOU

Displacement

No

DisplacementExplanation

PhysicalLocation

Charles Schwab Field Omaha. North Downtown Omaha.

QualifiedCensusTract

Within one or more QCTs

AdditionalLocationDocuments

PropertyZoning

Yes

ConnectedToUtilities

ConnectedToUtilitiesConnected

Yes

ConnectedToUtilitiesUpgradesNeeded

No

DesignEstimatingBidding

Yes

DesignEstimatingBiddingPackageDeveloped

No

DesignEstimatingBiddingCostsDetermined

Researched the price for acquiring a franchise and how much it cost to pay the players.

GeneralContractor

GeneralContractorPublicCompetitiveBid

GeneralContractorPublicCompetitiveBidWhyNot

RequestRationale

Franchise fees for the American Association is $650 K. We will need about $100 K yearly to pay the players, and $50K yearly to market the team. We plan to work with Olsson to determine the actual budget.

GrantFundsUsage

We will use LB1024's grant money to purchase the franchise and pay players/and marketing.

ProposalFinancialSustainability

Yes

ProposalFinancialSustainabilityOperations

We are working on getting a budget together for specific numbers.

FundingSources

We will sell merchandise, baseball tickets, and concessions at the ballpark.

FundingSourcesPendingDecisions

After we do further research with help from the professionals,

FundingSourcesCannotContinue

No

Scalability

No

ScalabilityComponents

FinancialCommitment

Our baseball franchise will pay good wages .

ARPAComplianceAcknowledgment

1.0

ARPAReportingMonitoringProcessAck

1.0

LB1024FundingSourcesAck

1.0

PublicInformation

1.0

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