Santurce proposes to San Juan an exclusive lease of the Hiram Bithorn for 15 years

In another document leaked to social media, Santurce Crabbers Apparently they made a proposal to the Municipality of San Juan for an exclusive 15-year lease of the Hiram Bithorn Stadium whereby the team would take charge of making improvements to the park and split 50-50 with the municipality the income from other entertainment activities held there.

In the document headed with the letterhead of the Cangrejeros de Santurce Baseball Club, it is highlighted that the franchise intends to make Hiram Bithorn and “return Puerto Rican baseball to its past glories and its prominence in Caribbean baseball” and the date of March 1 is set to receive a response to the letter, which, if it did not arise, the document says, would lead the team to “ continue the search for alternatives to play next season”.

“With that award from the city, we, not the municipality, would use our resources to make the best that are needed to give our fans the first-class experience they deserve, while engaging new generations of fans to Puerto Rican baseball,” reads the document.

“We would also keep the stadium available to host other forms of entertainment, such as concerts, at our sole discretion. After Cangrejeros management recoups the investment they would make to improve the stadium, up to $2 million, all stadium attendance revenues would be split 50-50 between the Cangrejeros and the municipality over the duration of the agreement lease. Of course, the city would continue to receive an income from the owners of the Cangrejeros, relieving the taxpayers of Puerto Rico from the cost of maintaining the stadium,” he continues.

Although the letter is dated Friday, February 18, the press and communications director of the Municipality of San Juan, Michelle Cobb, said that at the moment no capital official including the mayor, Michael Romerohas officially received the document, although he did say that efforts have been made to seek a meeting between the parties.

In the new letter, which has no signatures but ultimately submits the names of Thomas J. Axon Jr. and David P. Kalm, it is stated that “as mentioned, our group has significant resources. We want to use those assets to return baseball to its place as a national treasure of Puerto Rico. Make it what it was before poor management and lack of attention to the facilities led to the current state that we are denouncing.”

This is the second document of the Crabbers that comes to light about the interest of the novena santurcina that the conditions of the Hiram Bithorn be improved. The first emerged a week ago and in the most recent letter it is described as “a draft of the letter, written by the owners of the Cangrejeros de Santurce that reached the hands of the press.”

“Although it was not officially sent to you (Romero), the feelings expressed in the letter reflect our true feelings about the conditions of the stadium last season and the unfair and arbitrary treatment dispensed by the Government Department of Health,” the document says.