by Anthony DeMatteo
Staff Writer
The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville might soon bear the name of a man synonymous with baseball in the River City.
Baseball Jax, a group started by members of the Suns organization, is offering to pay the City $125,000 a year to name the field after longtime Suns owner Peter Bragan Sr. That figure is beyond what the current lease agreement between the City and the Suns calls for.
In a letter from Baseball Jax representative Steven Labovitz to Ron Barton, the executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, Labovitz stated that the City has been unsuccessful in selling naming rights to the Grounds, which it owns and leases to the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodger.
Labovitz, an attorney in Atlanta with the law firm of McKenna Long & Aldridge, has submitted a proposal that asks the City to consider naming the field after Bragan in a deal that includes limited naming rights and a ”backlit scoreboard sign.”
He proposes that the agreement begin this year and that the City retain the option to sell the naming rights to a third party, if one emerges.
“The above proposal represents a dramatic increase in revenue for the City and at the same time would allow the City to generate significant goodwill by honoring Mr. Bragan, Sr. and his contributions to the community,” wrote Labovitz, who declined to comment beyond the language of his letter to Barton.
The letter states that the proposal does not include naming the stadium after Bragan.
Barton did not return messages left for this story.
The new name of the field would be: “Bragan Field at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville,” and the yearly payments would start this year.
Susie Wiles, the chief of communication for Mayor John Peyton, declined comment and also referred all questions about the proposal to Barton.
The letter proposes negotiations with Jacksonville to determine whether an amended lease for the City to include providing public safety services at home games can be put together.
The name would appear behind home plate and on the stadium’s outfield wall.