Help make Prospect Meadows a reality

To the editor:

We have three sons who played competitive youth baseball. We traveled throughout the Midwest, from Kansas City and St. Louis, to Omaha, to Chicago and throughout Iowa. We have experienced varied field qualities and, surprisingly, the best ones were not always in the larger cities. Many communities the size of our metro area have high quality fields. And the question our teams always asked was, 'Why not here?”

When we learned about Prospect Meadows we wholeheartedly got behind the concept. Why not here? We have the largest scouting service in the country in Perfect Game and they are making a significant commitment to the project. They project the tournaments they could attract would result in more than 1,600 games per year. And that doesn't count the tournaments we could attract for our younger players - for our sons and daughters so we don't have to travel to other communities all the time. You can find detailed information at www.prospectmeadows.com.

All this adds up to 120,000 unique visits to the facility, 60,000 visitors to our area and up to 80,000 hotel nights with $25 million being spent in the area. My youngest son will be completing his last year of competitive baseball this summer. We won't have the opportunity for our boys to use these fields, but want to be part of bringing a world-class facility to our area for future generations. So parents of those players don't have to ask, 'Why not here?”

Angela and Dennis Jordan

Marion