Stadium Supporters Cry Foul

NORTHRIDGE — Supporters of Cal State Northridge baseball believe that two recent opportunities to gain funding for a new stadium were botched by university officials.

Northridge administrators maintain that those pushing the stadium proposal were merely engaging in wishful thinking.

A recent letter from Jack Foley, a leisure studies professor at Northridge, to Ron Kopita, vice president of student affairs, details efforts to solicit funds for a stadium from dollars generated by three recent Los Angeles County propositions.

Voters in the 1992 and 1996 elections approved measures to fund county parks, raising $875 million for capital recreation and park projects. Foley and a graduate student drew up a plan for a 3,000-seat stadium and presented it to Northridge Athletic Director Paul Bubb.

In addition to Northridge games, the stadium--named Bob Hiegert Park after the former longtime Matador baseball coach and athletic director--would have been available for youth camps and for high school playoff and youth all-star games.

The letter, obtained by The Times, says that Bubb “was not responding to the idea,” a statement Bubb disputes.

“I did follow up and asked [parks officials] what the likelihood of a state university gaining funds would be,” he said. “I was flat-out told they didn’t see that as likely. That was enough to discourage me.”

The passage last November of Proposition K, a measure that will raise $25 million a year each of the next 30 years for parks development, again raised hopes.

But Bubb knew by then that the athletic department already had exceeded its budget and that sports might be cut in 1997.

“I have to admit, I didn’t pursue finding funds for a stadium when we might not have enough money in the operating budget for a baseball program,” Bubb said.

Even if the baseball program survives the cuts next week, it will continue to make do with a facility rated in 1991 by Baseball America magazine as the worst in Division I.

Steve Soboroff, president of the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commission and Mayor Richard Riordan’s point man on stadium negotiations, believes getting Proposition K money for a baseball stadium will be difficult.

But not impossible.

“It would have to be at a city park unless the city council made an exception,” Soboroff said. “There are no joint-use projects [approved under Proposition K], although that is something we like to do.”

Soboroff believes boosters would need to raise matching funds, seek other sources of public funds, then apply for the next bundle of Proposition K money earmarked for the Northridge council district.

Another possibility is a grant. In addition to the $25 million a year, $143 million from Proposition K is set aside for grants, and that might be the most realistic source of stadium funds.

“If all of a sudden the community really wanted to push [for a stadium], there is nothing illegal about awarding [Proposition K] money for it,” Soboroff said. “But there may be an easier way to do it.”