UARANTEED

ONTACT

ARCUS

ACOBS

ULY

2010(608)

362-2272

MJACOBS

SNAPPERSBASEBALL

COM

IDWEST

EAGUE

●

LASS

FFILIATE

INNESOTA

WINS

P.O.

855

●

ELOIT

53512-0855P

HONE

(608)

362-2272

●

(608)

362-0418E

MAIL

MJACOBS

SNAPPERSBASEBALL

COM

●

WWW

SNAPPERSBASEBALL

COM

For Immediate Release:

July 28, 2010

For Further Information Contact:

Dennis Conerton, (608) 362-2272

Feasibility Study Provides Positive Community Feedback

The Beloit Professional Baseball Association’s Board of Directors received encouraging feedback from thissummer’s Stadium Feasibility Study at their recent July board meeting. The objective of the study was to gaugethe level of regional interest and support for a proposed year round multipurpose event facility and new homefor Minor League Baseball in the Beloit Gateway Development area on Interstate 90.The study, which focused on key individual interviews and an online survey, was conducted independently by afirm of consultants, The Abbey Group, Ltd., of Milwaukee, WI and Rapid City, SD. The Case Statementpresented in the community survey received very strong impressions from both the personal interviewees aswell as the online respondents according to Michael McNeely, a Principal with The Abbey Group. The surveyresults showed that over 75% of the participants ranked the building options and programs covered in the studyfavorably.Specific impressions noted included the fact that building a stadium on a new site was ranked favorably by 78%of the respondents in the survey. Additionally, operating the stadium year round for uses other then baseballwas ranked highly by over 85% of the individuals.Commenting on the results of the survey, Martha Mitchell, member of the Stadium Feasibility Panel and pastExecutive Director of Visit Beloit, which funded a significant portion of the cost of the studies, said “I think thesurvey was a great indicator that people want to see our community have a new multi-use facility that would beutilized for various year round events including Snappers Baseball games. The Snappers currently draw about60% of their fans from outside of the Beloit/Janesville area, so bringing in more visitors to our communitywould have a very positive economic impact on us.”The Abbey Group’s study also inquired about the individuals’ attitudes toward the organization’s desire tofinance a portion of the project’s cost with private donations through a general community campaign. Thiscampaign would supplement a loan that would be debt serviced by the organization as well as other possiblefunding options. When asking whether a potential $10 million capital campaign goal was feasible, the studyresults indicated that about 66% felt that it was. When the question about a possible goal included a range of $5to $10 million, 81% of those in the survey felt it was realistic.The personal survey responses were received from a cross section of 80 selected community representatives inthe greater state line area during the months of March and April while the online survey included 285 validresponses gathered during the month of May.