SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Missions’ opening day welcomes a new season and new ownership.
There are many familiar faces in the new leadership, from sports greats like Nolan Ryan, David Robinson, and Manu Ginobili, as well as former mayor Henry Cisneros. Their goal is to keep minor-league baseball in Alamo City.
“Major League Baseball has made it very clear that Wolff Stadium doesn’t comply with the requirements of what Major League Baseball wants in a minor league stadium. Lot of the things they want are player health and wellness,” said ownership partner Bob Cohen.
Cohen said the new ownership group has already made various upgrades to Wolff Stadium, one of the biggest being the new batting cages.
An area of concern for MLB is the player’s clubhouse. MLB officials want more lockers and bigger facilities for players and staff.
However, the extra space needed isn’t currently available at Wolff Stadium.
“We want to be very careful about doing any type of construction out here because it’ll have a short shelf life, hopefully,” Cohen said.
The hunt for a new ballpark for the Missions is ongoing. Cohen said they are in the early stages of research and looking at seven to eight locations, preferably around downtown or somewhere optimal for development.
Cohen said there is no set timeline for when they have to address all facility upgrades.
“They want to make sure that you have a plan for a new ballpark, so they want to see progress, and we will continue to communicate as much as we can about the progress we’re making as we make it,” Cohen said.
Details on funding a new stadium are also a work in progress.