Modesto poised to sign deal to keep Nuts baseball team in city
The city is poised to enter a new agreement with the Modesto Nuts to keep the minor league baseball team playing here for another decade.
The City Council on Tuesday will consider approving the agreement for the Nuts’ continued use of the city-owned John Thurman Field. The agreement is from Jan. 1, 2017, through Dec. 31, 2026, and replaces a 10-year agreement that expires at the end of this year.
The new agreement reduces the city’s general fund subsidy of John Thurman Field and shifts more responsibility for operating and maintaining the field to the Nuts. But the team will pay the city less money.
Deputy City Manager Brent Sinclair said during the city’s 2015-16 fiscal year, which ended June 30, the city brought in $296,000 in revenue and fees from the Nuts but paid out $752,000 from its general fund to operate and maintain John Thurman Field, for a deficit of $456,000. That deficit included a $167,000 debt service payment for $3 million in improvements to the facility completed in 2007 to 2010.
Under the new agreement, the city will receive a $70,000 annual license fee but no longer will be responsible for maintaining and repairing the facility. The Nuts would be responsible for those duties.
Sinclair said that based on the terms of the new agreement the city’s 2015-16 deficit would have fallen from $456,000 to $162,000. But the new agreement calls for the city to spend at least $120,000 annually on capital improvements and deferred maintenance. Sinclair said this allows the city to pay for that work without issuing additional debt.
The Seattle Mariners purchased a majority share of the Modesto Nuts in October and the teams entered into a player development contract making the Nuts a Mariners affiliate, according to a city report. The Nuts had been a Colorado Rockies affiliate for the preceding dozen years.
The council will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St.
This story was originally published December 12, 2016 at 6:22 PM with the headline "Modesto poised to sign deal to keep Nuts baseball team in city."