Back in December I wrote about the opening of the Big League Dreams sports park in Gilbert.
This from the end of that post:
I can tell you though — the fields are very nice. We’ll see how that turf holds up in the summer heat…
Well, it’s August now. . .
From today’s East Valley Tribune comes, Big League Dreams facing big problem with fields.
Jason Hubbard was in awe when he first took the field at Big League Dreams.
It was February, and his men’s softball team was playing in one of the opening leagues at the Gilbert ball park.
At first, he said, the fields were immaculate and the facility was spectacular.
But things have changed.
The grass is dead. The infields are worn out. And Big League Dreams is in serious danger of losing business.
It would appear that all is not well in Gilbert’s dreamy new ball fields. The developer is blaming the contractor, the Town Council is blaming the developer for lack of maintenance. Finger pointing abounds.
Big League Dreams, or Big League Schemes?
Dubbed “Big League Schemes” by some residents, the original budget for the park was $22M which swelled to $40M with cost overruns.
Now it’s looking like someone is going to need to plunk down at least $100K to fix the grass and infield areas. ($100K sounds awfully low to me…)
The comments in the Tribune article are interesting and vary wildly. Some report similar problems with other complexes operated by Big League Dreams, some say the fields aren’t that bad.
I live about 1.5 miles from the park, so I took a drive over tonight to check it out.
Looked pretty bad to me…
Here is a photo I shot just prior to the opening in December 2007:
And here are some shots of the same field, taken 30 minutes ago (sorry for the lousy quality. Should have taken the tripod. But you get the idea):
Yes, the summer heat is brutal. But there are immaculate lawns all over town. Big League Dreams is claiming the turf wasn’t installed properly and that the wrong materials were used in the infield dirt.
Who was supervising these operations?
Town of Gilbert residents have been grumbling since Day 1 about this project. It nearly cost twice what was estimated. And now this?
And in an election year no less.
Could get interesting. . .
Additional photos (the bulk from December 2007) on Flickr.
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