Fort Wayne City Council approved a $600,000 grant from the Legacy Fund for lights at the World Baseball Academy’s new fields in a preliminary vote Tuesday night.
The facilities, located in the ASH Centre on Freeman Street, will begin hosting games in 2018. The project’s first phase of development has raised $2.8 million of its $3.4 million goal, and the academy’s request for lights is actually $200,000 than a previous appeal in 2014.
World Baseball Academy CEO Caleb Kimmel says the facilities will not be best utilized without an ability to host night games, which he says would only place them at 65- to 70-percent efficiency.
"Without lights, for the next 10 years, we lose about 2,000 games," Kimmel said. "That's about 60,000 lost opportunities for kids to play the game of baseball in Fort Wayne, without lights for the next decade."
Tuesday’s vote was 7-1 in favor of the grant; only first district councilman Paul Ensley opposed it, citing precedent that could potentially be set by approving the grant.
It will go before Council for final vote next Tuesday. If approved, Kimmel says the new lights should be installed and the facilities ready for night games by August.
