Tempe Announces Plans for New Stadium

[Apollos]

December 26, 2031: In what was billed as “the dawn of a new era in Tempe baseball” Knights principal owner Chris Van Hauter held an ad hoc press conference today to announce plans for the construction of a new stadium for his baseball club. The location, which was reportedly purchased by the Van Hauter Group with little fanfare in late 2030, is a 40 acre parcel nestled between the Tempe Butte (commonly known as “A Mountain”) and the Salt River waterfront in the Marina Heights business district. Van Hauter indicated that prep work had already begun on the site in anticipation of the team debuting the new venue to start the 2033 campaign, and that the baseball club’s operations department had been working behind the scenes to secure construction permits and contractors for the project over the past year.

The announcement comes on the heels of a public spat between Knights management and that of the Tempe Heat Football Club which are scheduled to share rights to “The Keep”, the team’s current home, for the 2032 season. This disagreement brought to the forefront long standing rivalries between the two ownership groups and the effort to build a new, baseball-only facility appears to have been Van Hauter’s permanent solution to solving these disagreements.

“I don’t plan to offer any comment on our agreements or lack thereof with the Heat,” Van Hauter said responding to questions from the assembled media. “Today I’m only here to talk about the future of both the Knights and the city of Tempe, with our new park being a centerpiece of that rebirth.”

“The selected site is absolutely ideal for hosting a professional sports venue,” Van Hauter described in the press conference. “It provides easy vehicular access from the adjacent Rio Salado Parkway, as well as several public transportation options for our fans from all over the Phoenix metropolitan area, with close proximity to the 202/143 interchange. In addition, the park will boast panoramic views of the Salt River, Mill Avenue Bridge, and Tempe’s bustling skyline.”

While Van Hauter withheld any announcements on the stadium’s new name, he did allude to drawing inspiration from Tempe’s past in designing and conceptualizing the new park. “This will be the PEBA’s first 22nd century park,” Van Hauter alleged, “incorporating organic materials from our past and the local environment, while employing next generation technologies to increase its sustainability and enhance its presence. Our design team has worked closely with architects from disparate backgrounds to compose a truly world class facility that will harken back to the earliest days of sport while providing fans the modern, interactive experience they have come to expect.”

“This stadium will be the manifestation of nearly two years of intensive design, thought, and craftmanship drawing on inspiration from Panathenaic Stadium, the original site of the modern Olympic games in Athens. These elements will be incorporated throughout the park with use of marble imported from Pentelis mountain – the same stone that was used to construct the ancient Acropolis in Greece – to accompanying training fields which can be converted to host fan experience events and serve the city’s growing appetite for intramural level athletics.” Instead of providing an artist rendering for the new stadium, as has become customary during such announcements, Van Hauter instead revealed a panoramic image of the aforementioned Panathenaic Stadium under ambient lighting with an accompanying banner reading “Our future is our past”.

Van Hauter indicated that the park will be built to accommodate 35,000 fans at its opening with a uniquely designed third base grandstand that can be expanded to add additional seating for future postseason or showcase events. The park will use a revolutionary irrigation system which harvests and recycles water from the neighboring Salt River in order to maintain the playing surface, and promised the “greenest, most environmentally friendly” park in the PEBAverse, relying on invisible solar panels arrayed along the stadium’s natural awnings to provide all of its energy needs. The stadium will also boast an entirely underground parking garage with space to accommodate almost 3,000 vehicles, and a planned future expansion of the Tempe light rail system just off the stadium’s front entrance on the home plate side (nearest Tempe Butte).

As part of the facility, the Van Hauter Group has made tentative plans for the construction of an adjacent mixed use community consisting of a six acre town center, replete with an ancient Greek marketplace (“The Agora” as it has been dubbed in concept sketches) along with two 12 story apartment complexes and a business tower at 14 stories where the Van Hauter Group intends to relocate its corporate headquarters. “Our vision for the neighboring community is to integrate the European quality of life standards with the American pace of business, and the modern amenities of a space station!”

Given Van Hauter’s previous struggles in the business world, it came as a surprise to some industry analysts that the owner was able to stockpile the capital for such a significant investment, but there has been no indication that the plans will rely on public or outside financing. Still, Van Hauter demurred on all financial inquiries when asked at the press conference and such a venture will certainly come at great cost to a team which has previously abandoned Tempe as a result of its inability to consistently turn a profit. Van Hauter made clear his expectation that Tempe 2.0 (as he has called it on numerous occasions) will be a different story — this despite the enormous sign which hung over the podium throughout the announcement, solemnly reminding the amassed crowd: “Our future is our past”.