Minor League Ballfield in Woodstock?

What's that old saying? If you can't sell it in Crystal Lake, you can always peddle it in Woodstock?

Here come the ballfield proponents. The welcome mat got yanked in Crystal Lake, so they came out a little farther west and think they can peddle it here.

It's a good thing I am not a City Planner. I know that, for sure, I am not a futurist. And I've been to only one Kane County Cougars game (which was great - it's a very family-friendly team and ballpark) and never to the Schaumburg Flyers. I'm not likely to be a regular at any minor league games out this way. Maybe there are people who would be.

"If you build it, they will come." Well, the ballfield of the movie Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa is still there - a somewhat popular tourist spot. But will they come to Woodstock? And in sufficient numbers to keep the lights on for years to come? Is a recession the right time to build an entertainment or large recreational venue?

Traffic patterns can be created so that U.S. 14 doesn't not become a bottleneck and impassable on game nights; just pour lots of concrete. Worse would be for the ballfield to be built (or partially built) and then abandoned. The City should require a bond for its demolition, if it fails, and restoration to the cornfields there now.

How's that for progressive thinking?