Goldeyes owner Sam Katz signs lease for Ottawa baseball stadium, but says Winnipeg team staying put

Goldeyesowner and former Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz has partnered with the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group for a 10-year leaseof the Ottawa Baseball Stadiumbut he maintains the Ottawa deal shouldn't be read as a sign he plans to move Winnipeg's baseball team.

"My intentionhas never, everbeen for the Winnipeg Goldeyes to leave Winnipeg and it is still not,"Katz told CBC News late Tuesday afternoon.

The deal comes as Katz is locked in a years-longnegotiation with the City of Winnipeg for a new lease on Shaw Park, the home field of the baseball team he owns.

Katz, who has been working on getting a lease agreement forthe Ottawa stadium for several months, says he's in communication with other leaguesto get a team in Ottawa, and something could be confirmed "in the very very near future."

Katz's partner in the new stadium lease deal, the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group,owns the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks and the Ontario Hockey League's Ottawa 67's.

The lease agreement for the stadium in Ottawawas outlinedin a memo from that city'sgeneral manager of planning, Stephen Willis, to Ottawa's city council.

The 10-yearlease charges Katz and his partners$125,000 per year, but obliges themto pay arrears of $473,000 owed to the city by the previous stadium operator.

Thelease agreement "allows the leaseholder to focus on building a profitable business venture, which includes hosting professional minor league baseball games as part of the Frontier League or a league of similar calibre."

The group will be exempt from municipal taxes andthe city of Ottawawill beresponsible for "all capital lifecycle maintenance and repairs."

Katz calls the difference between the lease deal in Ottawa and what the city of Winnipeg wants for Shaw Park "pretty much night and day."

The Goldeyes owner says there is approximately an $800,000 gap between what Ottawa is charging for leasing the10,332-seat Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Park also known as the Ottawa Baseball Stadium and what Winnipeg wants for Shaw Park.

Still, Katz says he wants the Goldeyesto remain in Winnipeg.

"The intention, quite simply, is to hope that councilrealizes the value of the Goldeyes in the cityand we can get something done," Katz said. "We've been doing this for five yearsit's time to get it to closure."

On Monday, Winnipeg city council'sexecutive policy committee postponed a vote on the city's most recent lease offer for Shaw Park in order to review financial records provided by the Goldeyes.

The current lease, which expires in three years,charges the Goldeyes $1 per year.

The city has offered a 15-year lease for Shaw Park that would see the team pay annual rent of $75,000 in the first five years, $85,000 in years the following five years, and $95,000 in the final years.

Katz has said publicly there is a time factor in getting a deal done in Winnipeg, asthe Goldeyes' league the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball needs him to commit to another five-year term. Alease agreement is part of that contract.

A spokesperson for Brian Bowman said the Winnipeg mayor did not have a comment on the agreement Katz signed in Ottawa.