Re: Fair Grounds Field

Dear Speaker Johnson, Senator Kennedy, and Governor Landry:

505 TRAVIS STREET, SUITE 200

SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA 71101

(318) 673-5050

I have received a copy of letters to each of you from the Friends of Fair Grounds Field (FOFGF), seeking your intervention in the local decision of the City of Shreveport to demolish Fair Grounds Field. The letters to you are virtually identical, so I am responding in a single letter.

Since before being elected Mayor, my position has remained the same with respect to Fair Grounds Field. The stadium has not been used in years, it is beyond its useful life, and it is beyond rehabilitation. The city has no funds for restoration, which we believe, even if possible, would cost millions of dollars. You can see from the renderings provided by FOFGF that their hope for restoration would be an expensive endeavor. Moreover, Fair Grounds Field has become an eyesore that needs to be demolished for aesthetic reasons.

In addition, any plan to operate a restored Fair Grounds Field would almost assuredly involve serious subsidy for maintenance and operation that would divert funds for programming from youth and other programs of Shreveport Public Assembly and Recreation (SPAR) that are a higher priority for my administration than the subsidy of a baseball stadium. Without a plan to make the stadium self-sustaining, it would be a drain on public resources.

For all of the reasons set forth above, I have authorized the taking of bids to demolish Fair Grounds Field, and the city plans to move forward with the demolition. This is true even though I personally share the sentiment of wishing it were prudent not to demolish the stadium. The citizens of Shreveport authorized the bonds for the stadium while I was a member of the City Council. I attended both the groundbreaking and the first game at the field. In addition, I attended and enjoyed many games while the stadium was home for a minor league baseball team. That day is now history, and there is no likelihood of a long-term tenant for the stadium that would make its operation self-sustaining and prudent.

You may know that in 2023, my administration seriously examined a proposal to build a minor-league baseball quality stadium on the fair grounds in hopes of using it to transform the fair grounds and the neighborhood. The city engaged a consultant to examine the proposal from a financial viewpoint, and it became clear that the proposal would require over $8 million a year in subsidy from the city. I deemed that subsidy too great a cost and reluctantly passed on the idea.

While I was campaigning for Mayor in 2022, James C. McMichael, Jr., a now deceased Shreveport attorney, called me on behalf of U. L. Coleman, 111, one of the signatories of the letters to you, to discuss Fair Grounds Field. I told Mr. McMichael that I believed that the stadium likely should be demolished for the reasons stated above. I also told him that if FOFGF wanted to save the stadium, I would consider it, if elected, if the following conditions were met:

1. The city contribution to restoration was no more than the estimated cost of demolition;

2. Someone other than the city financed 100% of the restoration;

3. FOFGF or someone else agreed to maintain and operate the stadium at no net expense to the city; and

4. FOFGF or someone else put up funds or a bond for the cost of demolition in case the original plan did not succeed.

On April 4 of this year, I met with Bill Robertson, the other signatory of the letters to you, and discussed Fair Grounds Field, among several other topics. I again set forth the conditions under which I would consider some delay in the demolition of Fair Grounds Field and advised Mr. Robertson about my conversation during the campaign with a representative of Mr. Coleman .

To date, and including the letters you received, neither FOFGF nor any other party has put forth any specific, actionable plan that would satisfy the conditions for delay that I have maintained for over two years concerning Fair Grounds Field. In the absence of such a plan, the only prudent way forward is to demolish the stadium.

My position on this issue has been consistent, and I wanted to explain more of the facts to you in the face of the letters to you from FOFGF. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like further information.

Tom Arceneaux, Mayor of the City of Shreveport

Photo: File Photo