Montrose ends contract with Little League

The future of little league baseball in Montrose is up in the air.

The city's contract with the little league board is now cancelled.

Little league baseball may not be swinging into action this summer but city officials say it could be good not just for the baseball community, but all sports and activities.

"It's a great facility and it needs to be used," said Landon Wareham, Montrose High School Baseball Coach.

The baseball fields at Sunset Mesa are a popular spot in Montrose, but under the city's old contract, Little League called all the shots.

"It gave them sole rights to tell people who could use it and who couldn't use it, and that's not the purpose of the facility," said Wareham.

 This week city council decided to cancel its lease with little league, in hopes of ending that monopoly.

"Primarily the issue was the use of the fields being an exclusive right to one organization and we want to share that with the other entities like the recreation district, Montrose baseball and softball programs," said City Manager, Bill Bell.

Now the city has control of the fields and will work with an advisory board to develop a program that's in the best interest for all athletes.

"It's a way the community can come together to move in the same direction, rather than having multiple entities competing for the same children and the same activities," said Bell.

City council members say they're not getting rid of little league, just taking away the leagues exclusive rights.

"What it means for youth baseball is a more unified approach from the beginning to high school level, which in communities like Montrose that are small and every kid goes to the same high school, I think it's important we're working with our kids and get them to do the same thing and come up through one specific program," said Wareham.

What's more, officials believe the new set up will open the door for more tournaments- and in turn more tourism.

"It will bring more people to our community in the summer times, they'll spend money at our hotels, our restaurants our gas stations," said Wareham.

"City council's been proactive and trying to take taxpayer dollars and put them to use of the general public and make sure everyone has access to those, so this is just another piece of the puzzle," said Bill.

Although a contract with Little League itself may not be part of that puzzle, league representatives plan on meeting with city council later in the week to discuss their future role, if any, in the city of Montrose.