Alice Rodriguez remembers heading to Katy Park with her family after Sunday Mass to cheer on the Waco Pirates, a minor league baseball team.
That storied ballpark on Jackson Avenue is 60 years gone, now commemorated with a state historical marker at the site of the Magnolia Silos. But Rodriguez believes professional baseball will be part of downtown Waco’s future as well as its past.
Rodriguez, who recently retired after decades on the Waco City Council, is among the community leaders who support a minor league ballpark complex proposed in the city’s Downtown Redevelopment Project plan. And they want to see it sooner than later.
“I think a ballfield is an awesome idea because it gives us parents and grandparents a place to take our kids, to enjoy the sport affordably,” Rodriguez said.
City officials have toured multiple successful sports developments throughout the country. They are in talks with developers eager to move a sports entertainment complex further up the timeline.
The downtown plan calls for a 24-acre ballpark district at the former Indian Spring Middle School site, with the ballfield itself at Third Street and Waco Drive.
The plan depicts the sports complex as the fourth and final phase of the sweeping 100-acre revitalization project. But if the right team and developer makes the right offer, that could change quickly, Waco Mayor Jim Holmes said.
City officials envision a minor league stadium bringing foot traffic to support new retailers, restaurants and hotels. It would serve a secondary role as an all-purpose event space for concerts or the finish line for marathons.
Rodriguez and other ballpark boosters say the success of Waco sports from youth to college levels shows Waco has a pre-existing fan base for the sport.
“Waco is a baseball town,” Rodriguez said.
Hurdles to clear
Even with grassroots and official support, the ballpark concept faces some possible curve balls.
To start with, the public cost of the complex is estimated at $181 million, which would likely require a bond election.
Mayor Holmes said the increased tax revenue from the ballpark district is expected to more than recoup that investment over time.
Waco will not follow the lead of some cities that have fronted the full cost of a stadium to attract a team, said Tom Balk, director of strategic initiatives and lead of the downtown project for the city of Waco.
“Waco is not going to be one of those cities that heavily subsidizes a stadium and as soon as the [team’s] contract expires, they just go to the next town that’s willing to do the same thing,” Balk said. “We want a partner invested in the whole district.”
Holmes sounded the same note of caution.
“I’m not a fan of the Field of Dreams model; basically, if we build it, they would come,” he said. “But if an investor is interested in building a ballpark or interested in creating development around a ballpark first, we would certainly move that up towards up to the front.”
City officials said they want developers to commit to housing, retail and hotel components of the district, not just what Balk called “building a monument to the team.”
The investment groups in conversation with the city are waiting until they see progress on the downtown plan, city officials said. Work could begin as early as next year on the Barron’s Branch District phase between Jefferson and Washington avenues.
The $171 million phase would include commercial development along a manmade creek park between Jefferson and Washington avenues.
“They need to see this is more than just pretty pictures,” Holmes said of potential ballpark investors.. “They want shovels in the ground.”
Soccer, baseball or both?
Mike Vogelaar, executive director of the nonprofit Greater Waco Sports Commission, is an outside observer of the city’s plan but sees its potential.
“The fact this is even on the radar is something the community can be excited about,” Vogelaar said.
Vogelaar’s job is to recruit athletic events to the city, and he’s a close observer of the larger American sports landscape.
Besides game day commerce, he sees even greater value in the flexibility of a minor league stadium.
“It wouldn’t just be used for baseball,” Vogelaar said. “That’s the most practical way to explore a project like this.”
Waco City Council Member Andrea Barefield echoed Vogelaar’s assessment of a community-oriented stadium this week.
“The facility would allow multiple forms of programming beyond baseball … creating yet another thing that makes Waco fun and inviting,” she said this week in a statement to the Bridge.
Balk and Holmes also see the potential of creating a stadium for both minor league baseball and soccer, as El Paso has done.
The case for soccer
Chris McGowan, a Waco-based city planning consultant who has long been involved in downtown Waco development, said he supports any stadium plan that activates the area. But he especially sees promise in a soccer-first stadium, given the sport’s increasing popularity.
“Baseball might be a hard sport to build a stadium’s future on because it’s not growing as fast as soccer,” McGowan said.
The popularity of soccer in the U.S. has grown with each World Cup, the world’s most watched sporting event.
World Cup games in 2026 will be spread throughout North America, but no city will see more games than Arlington, just 100 miles north of Waco.
Mauro Maldonado, a coach with SoCo Soccer Academy in Waco, acknowledged baseball’s grip on Waco, but he sees a generational shift.
“Baseball is big here, but for the majority of kids coming up, it’s soccer,” Maldonado said. “To have a professional club here would be amazing.”
Balk said the city’s development team has toured both minor league baseball and United Soccer League stadiums to explore the best fit for Waco.
Regardless of the sport, Balk said the goal is a stadium that is heavily used year-round for community events and revenue opportunities.
“It needs to drive foot traffic and visitation every day of the year if at all possible,” Balk said.
Tough playing field
If Waco pursues a minor league baseball team, it will face stiff competition.
Major League Baseball offers 120 minor league licenses, and all are spoken for. A newcomer city would have to lure another city’s team with the promise of better financial returns and a better facility.
Balk believes the strength of Waco’s pitch will only increase after the early phases of the redevelopment project.
The construction surrounding those first phases could also help finance Waco’s portion of the ballpark district’s construction costs through property tax and hotel tax revenue.
One success story for parlaying minor league ball into a city’s economic development can be found 90 miles south in Round Rock.
Before the Austin exurb built the Dell Diamond stadium in 2000 and secured its minor league team, the Round Rock Express, the city was better known as a sleepy bedroom community, said Chad McKenzie, Round Rock’s director for sports management and tourism.
The city of Round Rock kicked off the project by investing $7 million in hotel revenue to build the stadium, and followed up with another $8.5 million over the next 25 years.
McKenzie said the investment’s dividends included a culture shift that sparked more sports-related development.
“We call ourselves the sports capital of Texas now,” McKenzie said.
The city now has a cricket field, an indoor volleyball center, several baseball and softball complexes, multiple soccer fields with different surfaces, and Kalahari Resorts, which purports to have America’s largest indoor waterpark.
“All of that really began after that simple decision of, ‘Hey, let’s see if we can get baseball in Round Rock,’” McKenzie said.
Is baseball culture enough?
Back in Waco, the passion for America’s game is undeniable. Midway High School recently took home the state title for baseball, and Robinson High School won the state softball title. McLennan Community College’s baseball team secured a national championship in 2021, and Baylor’s team is in the middle of the pack in the Big 12.
Minor league ball would provide a route to the majors for emerging talent and a way for fans to see high-level play for a fraction of the price of a major league ticket.
Vogelaar, however, is cautious about drawing a direct parallel between youth participation and local fandom for a newly minted professional team.
“The question is, do the youth athletes love playing the game as well as watching it, and do the people who attend those games enjoy watching baseball, or do they really enjoy watching people they know play it?” he said.
