Feb. 2, 2023

The Sioux Falls Canaries plan to bring a vision forward about how baseball could figure into the proposed downtown Riverline District, calling it “the only economically viable” solution for a professional baseball team in Sioux Falls.

“We’d love to engage in the conversation,” said Brian Slipka, general manager of True North Equity Partners and a co-owner of the Sioux Falls Canaries.

“We were disappointed we were not included in the task force discussion given the degree of investment True North has in the Sioux Falls marketplace.”

True North Sports, which is part of the True North group of independently owned businesses, acquired the team in 2021. Its businesses also include the Sioux Falls office of Sunbelt Business Advisors, part of the world’s largest business brokerage.

The Canaries took issue with how a survey from the planning committee characterized the conversation about the property. The first question asks participants if a sports stadium were to be built on the property whether they believe it’s best suited for baseball, a multisport turf field for soccer, football and other sports or something else.

“The first question is baseball or no baseball, basically,” Slipka said. “It’s presented as baseball or anything else.”

However, Slipka said he and the team are “super excited about what’s going on. We believe the truth will emerge and part of that truth is reimagining professional baseball.”

In other communities, “there are common denominators and threads of downtown revivals, and it almost always involves a minor league baseball stadium because it offers so many more dates than soccer or other sports.”

The organization wants to show data that backs up that belief, he said.

“Part of what we see ourselves doing moving forward, which is exciting, is coming to the table with some renderings of our own and some visions of our own because we believe there’s a lot there,” Slipka said. “I knew the task force was being put together. I knew they had reservations about having Canaries ownership on the task force. I trustingly said, ‘OK, fair enough,’ so we knew this initial thing may not give us a ton of opportunity for input. It just came across much differently than what we were led to believe.”

As a committee, “we are focused on gathering community input before more seriously exploring potential partners for the Riverline District site,” co-chair Natalie Eisenberg said. “There are currently no potential tenant representatives in the Friends of the Riverline District meetings.”

Slipka said while he has had conversations with members of the task force, he plans to reach out to its co-chairs to discuss being part of “the meaningful conversation.”

He said the 10-acre site downtown is the most economically viable for a new baseball stadium. The future of the Canaries stadium on the campus of the Denny Sanford Premier Center has been part of a broader effort to create a master plan for the area, but no decisions have been reached about its future.

“We have alignment (with the committee) around a live, work, play district,” Slipka said. “I think where we have a misconception is that baseball isn’t going to do anything for anybody, when it reality you can build on a lot smaller parcel of property than ever before. We wouldn’t make it a big one. We would make it more of a ballpark that has a neighborhood embedded around it.”

He compares such a vision to Fenway Park in Boston.

“There’s restaurants and bars all around it and hotels all around it and residents all around it, and that would be the vision,” he said. “It would be even adjacent to indoor facilities for pickleball and soccer.”

While he said there’s some frustration with the early process, “the whole thing is positive. The whole thing is awesome. I’m super pumped.”

Initial comments mixed

After a few days, the Riverline District’s website already has drawn dozens of comments and ideas. Each mark on this map indicates feedback.

“Baseball or soccer stadium (multi-use) would be a great addition,” one person wrote. “Retractable roof for year around usability.”

Someone else supported “a mixed use sporting facility that will provide the most amount of use and public engagement.”

“Soccer stadium,” another said. “Sioux Falls does not have an adequate venue for soccer. With the popularity of the sport ever rising in the United States, it could be a decent idea to invest in a small modern stadium for local Sioux Falls clubs.”

Another person gave it a “hard no for me on a sports complex downtown especially in proximity to the river. We need to keep this river line open for all to enjoy rather than distract away from it with any sort of sports complex! I’m cool with where the new skate park will be and because the nature of that sport doesn’t draw huge crowds at the same time. Not to mention the traffic jams a complex downtown would bring. I firmly believe that any future sports complex needs to be on the outskirts of town next to an interstate.”

And another respondent said a “downtown ballpark with an associated ‘village’ with entertainment options would be a great way to use this space. If you use it for some indoor multi-use sports facility this area just becomes an area with a large building and a parking lot that can be put in many places in Sioux Falls.”

To take the survey, click here.

Proposed Riverline District could bring community, business uses to downtown’s east end