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“Petco Park-The Place to Be”

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Spent the morning yesterday with two of the biggest fans of the city of San Diego, and where we are today with our franchises, and what we might have to look forward to, tomorrow and in the future.

Ron Fowler has become the ‘civic conscience’ of the franchise and the sports entities in America’s Finest City. Mayor Kevin Faulconer pushes ahead with ideas and initiatives, despite what was just done to his city months ago.

Yes, Fowler’s short ownership of the Padres has not been successful, but at least they have invested heavily in the future of the franchise, with this minor league blueprint.

Not only have the Padres spent just over 90M to sign 71-draft picks and International free agents, they have committed enormous resources to Petco Park in terms of upgrades and advances.

Fowler estimates his ownership group has poured 45-to-50M into the decade old stadium, from things you see, like the Video-Ribbon Boards, to things that don’t necessarily flash at you, like a complete Blue-White team color paint job.

They installed a tremendous wall display of the the Padres Hall of Fame plaques…and the arrival of the Hall of Champions display, to be built this season, near the Palm Court, that will quadruple the number of people who will be exposed to the Bob Breitbard Hall of Flame.

Fowler isn’t done. Next project, determination of a football field layout, stretching from the lst base dugout to the left field stands, to host the Holiday Bowl, and likely Aztecs football in 2019. He expects the final design on the football setup within 45-days from Populous Architects.

The challenge will be to construct temporary seating along the outfield, and to make it appear normal in style to the current layout design. Fowler needs 45,000-total seats to make the football layout work, for the bowl game and SDSU.

The Padres owner game plan is also to import international friendly soccer games to Petco over the next couple of years, till the Soccer City MLS group gets up and running, if they get the team and a stadium built at the Q.

Couple his National League team with all the other evens they have hosted, and the game plan going forward, you understand the comment from Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who we met with on Wednesday.

“Petco is the ‘crown jewel’ of downtown. The Padres care about the facilities. It’s like a new ballpark opening every year. They re-imagine every space, every angle, and how to create something new every year”.

The baseball team might not be very good right now. But the ownership of the franchise pushes all the right buttons to energize this community. They show class and respect to the fans, the media, the city leadership.

Sadly we no longer have a Chargers franchise to call out own, ripped out of our hearts by the cold-corporate-no-class, greed of the Spanos Family.

In its place Ron Fowler stands as a beacon of civic mindedness for our community. A businessman yes, but a sports fan too. The fan’s man.

Ron Fowler is making Petco Park the place to be year round.

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