Baseball league delays its start-up plans to next year

SIKESTON, Mo. --A new minor-league baseball group with plans to bring a Class A team to Sikeston has shelved the idea until next year after two participating cities backed out.

Randy Morgan of Paducah, Ky., the organizer of the Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League, said Tuesday that stadium upgrades in Dyersburg, Tenn., and Union City, Tenn., both were behind schedule and wouldn't be complete in time for the season scheduled to begin in May. That would have left only two towns -- Sikeston and Fulton, Ky. -- with completed stadiums.

Another planned team in Paducah, Ky., was taken out of consideration when Morgan and city leaders were unable to reach an agreement on the use of the city's existing stadium.

"It's very disappointing," Morgan said. "It was just a situation where we ran out of time. All the cities involved thought they could have their stadiums ready, but I think there just wasn't enough time allowed to get the work done."

A back-up plan to lure an established Frontier League team from Florence, Ky., to alternate its home games between the VFW Field in Sikeston and a field in Fulton fell through late last week when the team found a temporary stadium in southern Ohio. It would have used the Sikeston and Fulton fields for only one season as its permanent home in Florence was built.

Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee said he was optimistic a minor-league franchise like the one Morgan proposed could work well in the area.

"It's a very fertile area to do something like that," Lee said. "It's a nice place to put a league."

All the teams in the proposed KITLeague would be owned and operated by Morgan and a group of investors, he said. Each would have its own coaching staff.

Morgan said the additional year's wait should provide enough time to secure financing for a new stadium in Paducah, along with improvements in Dyersburg and Union City. Upgrades at the 1,300-seat stadium in Sikeston will include new dugouts at Morgan's request, according to Parks and Recreation coordinator Jiggs Moore.

A new 3,000-seat stadium in Cape Girardeau has been discussed with both local and outside private investors, Morgan said. Cape Girardeau Mayor Jay Knudtson said the city would support a privately funded stadium, but not a publicly financed park.

"I'd be happy to do what I could to continue the dialogue, and nobody would love to see it work more than me," Knudtson said, "but we're just not in a situation to have a major financial investment."

Morgan said the league also could include cities as far east as Clarksville, Tenn., next season.

jhall@semissourian.com

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