The Charlotte Knights have been negotiating for years to move from their Fort Mill,SC home to a downtown ballpark proposed in Charlotte’s center city. It appears the town of Fort Mill is getting a little tired of playing the bridesmaid,and is now refusing to continue year-to-year leasing of the current facility to the Knights.
According to the Charlotte Observer,the stadium authority is now pressing for a new 3 year lease agreement with the team,which would potentially delay any consideration of a downtown move until the middle of the next decade.
the holdup at this point has been a single lawyer,Jerry Reese,who has filed motion after injunction against the city of Charlotte over the placement of the new stadium on the site of some land acquired in a convoluted land-swap agreement a few years ago. While his arguments have some merit in regards to the original intent for land use in the swap,the ulterior motive has clearly been an effort to put the stadium on land owned and controlled by Mr. Reese a few miles north of the proposed site as the anchor to a larger development project.
Mr. Reese has been a proponent of a major league park,but by most accounts,the city and surrounding region remain 10-20 years premature to being a viable MLB location.
