City, League to Meet on Plans for Team

Hoping to take advantage of the recent collapse of minor league stadium plans in Ventura, Oxnard officials are scheduled to meet with Western League representatives today so they can solidify plans for the Palm Springs Suns to play baseball in Oxnard next year.

With Ventura out of the way, Oxnard city officials hope to get a leg up on Camarillo, which has also been planning to build a stadium. Oxnard wants to become the first city in the county to have a minor league ball team since the Gulls played in Ventura more than a decade ago.

“Ventura County is a hot market for minor league baseball,” Oxnard Councilman Bedford Pinkard said. “I don’t think the market will support two minor league teams, and the one that gets here first will survive.”

League President Bruce Engel and two other league representatives are set to meet with members of the Oxnard Baseball Task Force, including Pinkard, City Atty. Gary Gillig and Palms Springs Suns owner Don DiCarlo.

“We want to make sure that the Western League is aware of the entire strategic situation in the western county,” said Steve Kinney, head of Oxnard’s Economic Development Corp., who is also scheduled to meet with league representatives.

“We are just trying to take advantage of his visit and cement the relationship.”

Although Engel has stated that the Palm Springs Suns will most likely not play this year, he has made it clear that the Western League is very interested in bringing a franchise to Ventura County.

The league president has said he wants to finalize the lease on the Oxnard College baseball field to make it a longer commitment than the present one-year agreement.

In addition, Engel is expected to tour the college diamond, which needs thousands of dollars worth of improvements--including new bleachers, lighting and amenities--before a minor league team could play there.

“We need to work out what we need to get accomplished for 1998,” Engel said in an earlier interview.