Red Sox think new stadium would save city money on infrastructure

The Regina Red Sox are taking a swing at trying to help lower the city’s future costs around infrastructure related to utilities.

The Western Canadian Baseball League team has proposed a 3,500-seat stadium to be built in the city’s downtown, along Dewdney Avenue at the railyards.

The project would be part of the long-term development of that land, known as the Regina Revitalization Initiative (RRI).

The Red Sox and Living Sky Sports and Entertainment said Wednesday they used a local engineering firm to look into the impact on water servicing demands a stadium would have compared to other developments on the same land. Those could include housing or offices.

The report found domestic water demands would drop up to 60 per cent, demands on wastewater would decrease up to 55 per cent and there would be a drop of up to 20 per cent in storm water flows.

“We are encouraged that it appears the baseball stadium design will reduce demands on the City of Regina utility services, as well as likely result in a decrease in City of Regina expenditures for municipal infrastructure related to servicing a baseball stadium versus the RRI plan,” Red Sox president Gary Brotzel said in a news release.

The team has submitted its project and design plans, along with a Letter of Intent, to the city’s executive committee, but said it has not received a formal response back yet.

The Red Sox and Living Sky Sports and Entertainment believe the stadium could be built by 2024.

The Red Sox previously announced they won’t be playing in the 2021 season due to COVID-19 restrictions.