Springdale Tries To Wrangle Team

Springdale officials are openly courting the Wichita Wranglers as the minor league baseball team they hope to secure for a new stadium being built off Interstate 540.

On July 11, Springdale voters approved — by 13 votes — an extension of a 1 percent sales tax to issue $50 million in bonds to fund a baseball stadium and the surrounding infrastructure. The stadium is scheduled for completion in time for the 2008 season, although the Wranglers’ current lease with the city of Wichita runs through 2009.

The Wranglers are a Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals and play in the Texas League, which includes area teams from Little Rock, Tulsa and Springfield, Mo. Royals officials haven’t been excited about the situation in Wichita, where the Wranglers are last in the Texas League with an average attendance just over 2,700 per game this season.

The rest of the Texas League is filled with near-capacity stadiums on most nights with teams in Springfield, Mo., and the Texas cities of Frisco and Corpus Christi each drawing more than 7,000 per home game.

At press time, negotiations between Springdale and the Wranglers were ongoing and a decision could be reached at any time.