Trash Pandas Working To Concrete Team In Madison
MADISON- While the start of the newest professional baseball team in North Alabama is still more than a year and a half away, preparations abound in many folds as the newly named Rocket City Trash Pandas team is busy settings its wheels in motion to invade the North Alabama area to match the excitement surrounding the return of professional baseball to the area.
“The excitement is awesome and we can’t wait to get goin’ and playing baseball here, that’s for sure,” said Roger Wexelberg, president of the new team.
Ralph Nelson, the team’s managing partner, is leading the staff setup to move forward with the “product” of a baseball team. The naming of the team was held before a large crowd and featured a heavily-produced presentation in bringing forth the name of the local minor league franchise, which is basically the current team based in Mobile making the move north to the immediate area. Next up for Nelson and his staff is to arrange the team logo and official colors and begin marketing to the areas across North Alabama and Southern Tennessee.
The team logo and colors will be revealed at a special outing on Oct. 27 at Dublin Memorial Park.
“We’ll have a storefront at Bridge Street set to open by Nov. 12,” said Wexelberg. “We have a lot of exciting things going on.”
Besides a barrage of merchandise scheduled to be offered, the team will begin taking orders for season tickets on Nov. 17.
In meetings with the Madison City Council, Nelson spoke of his plans to possibly open a second store in Madison, which in turn will become the flagship store of what could be several outlets in the immediate area.
Nelson added, “We are looking now into opening a store in Decatur and Athens as well.” Speaking to the Madison City Council, Nelson included he was, “Excited about the amount of media coverage just about the naming of the team. I’m happy the community selected the team name in the voting.”
The Madison City Council will vote on amendments to BallCorps licensing and lease agreement with the City of Madison. Madison Mayor Paul Finley said a vote within the City Council would have to occur to change the listings in the amendments for the lease agreements to go forward.
The Madison City Council has stated the contract with BallCorps will need to be modified from the original agreement to accommodate the necessary name change and other portions of the signed agreement.
The Madison City Council approved the bid for construction for the new stadium, located near I-565 and Zerdt Road. Hoar Construction, based in Birmingham, was awarded the contract for a $38-million price tag. The projected cost includes the stadium and additional costs that go along with surrounding areas of the construction.
Hoar Construction began its business in 1940 and has been responsible for 100 enclosed malls and over 90-million square feet of retail space. The family-based business has experience with constructing athletic stadiums as the Maritime Park in Pensacola, Fla. was handled from start to finish by the longtime construction company.
The project located at Town Madison will have to move on a quick pace to be ready for the opening of the 2020 season as inclement weather can certainly cause construction to come to a stop or slow-down. With the Trash Pandas set to begin in the early part of the 2020 Southern League schedule, the stadium, the baseball field and other entities surrounding a baseball stadium will have to be complete prior to the first pitch.
