With the minor league baseball season set to open in a few days, a dispute is brewing between Davenport leaders and the owners of the Swing of the Quad Cities. The city says the team still owes 218-thousand dollars for the use of John O’Donnell Stadium but the Swing is disputing that in a long letter from the team’s attorney.
That doesn’t sit well with Alderman Ian Frink. Frink says he’d like to see “some sort of action” to bring the money in, adding, it’s “clearly money that’s owed to us.” Another alderman, Barney Barnhill, says the city’s losing patience with the Swing’s parent company, Seventh Inning Stretch and its president Kevin Krause.
Barnhill says “We’ve got nine pages here of legalism and if you go through it, half of it is lost in ambiguity and (Krause’s) own lawyers drew the thing up…and he’s arguing about terms. I just don’t understand that.”
Barnhill says he’s patronized the Swing and can’t fathom why Krause wouldn’t pay the city its due. He says “I’ve been to a number of the ball games last year and I go by almost every Friday and Saturday night and the place is packed. He’s making money.” The Swing’s first games this season are on the road and the first home game is scheduled for next Monday against Clinton.