City manager, city manager here in Wilson. And uh my job today is to be your host. Um I think our staff knew that they shouldn't list me as a speaker because we're trying to keep this thing on schedule. So they gave me a job and they gave me a script. So I'll try my best to stick to that. Um uh Just a brief uh opening comment that, that when the, when the Brewers first came to town to take a look at our community, I remember we met in a conference room not far from this site and pretty quickly it became clear that there were some common elements and some real synergy around this possibility. Uh We were meeting with both the Brewers and the private developers um to meet all of them today. But it was abundantly clear. I, I remember in that first meeting when we looked at the scale and the size of this project and understanding that um to be the host of, of a minor league team in the future is a lot different than what's been required to be the host of a minor league team in the past. And where we did enough for this challenge. Um I remember saying that the only way we can pull this off is through partnership. This is not gonna work in a transactional relationship only. It's not gonna work simply as a business deal. It's only gonna work if we have private sector, public sector and the team all come together and make a lot of compromises to pull this, to pull something like this off um in our community. And today, on this stage, our speakers from uh all three legs of our school. Uh We've got the public sector, the community support that was required to build the stadium. Obviously, we needed a team and in my opinion, uh we got the best and uh then very critical that we have a developer who invest in our community, invest in our tax base and pay the stadium off basically with our new tax base. And so we have the decision makers from all three groups, all three legs of the school here today. And I um I'm honored to first introduce uh one of my bosses, uh Mayor Carlton Stevens. Um you know, him probably much better than, you know, me. So as I've struggled with this, Mike, I'll give you a brief, a brief intro. Uh The mayor is a lifelong native of Wilson, a graduate from Bedingfield High School. Uh That must be where he developed his welfare education. Uh He is an educator um and is a very passionate supporter of Wilson's youth in various capacities. After he graduated from Betting Field, he joined the army. Um And after his tour of duty, he came back to Wilson and, and began his career in education. Over the past 20 years, he served the community in many ways. Uh including he was a mentor for at risk youth, a tutor, a tutor, and a mental health professional, a paraprofessional. He's currently the operations manager for his family's business, Steve, his funeral home. Um and he has served as a middle school math teacher and in transition to a school administrator. And uh I don't know this to be the case, but I, I think I saw some middle school kids in attendance today. And if I know my mayor, he probably had something to do with that because he's always thinking about the youth and uh promoting the youth in our community. So it's my privilege and honor to introduce our mayor since November 2019 carton students. Thank you so much, Frank. Uh I wanna welcome everyone here today and I was given a script uh and I was told to follow this script. So this is exactly what I'm gonna do. Um Kind of sort of just a little bit. Anyway, I wanna thank everyone for being here today. I wanna definitely give honor to my friends and my colleagues on the City council. We have Mayor Prote Johnson sitting on the uh podium with me we have Doctor Bell Councilman uh CRE Council War Morgan. Councilman uh Lord have mercy, Jesus. I want to say p Councilor pow is on the end, Councilman Evans. I just lost. I had a F ro I'm so sorry, but we also have some very important people in the crowd and those important people. I believe that I'm calling in court right now. Are our hunt warriors. Do I have hunt warriors out here? Yeah, I've been quite happy here if I'm not mistaken. And you asked to not leave those mighty garden folks where we at? The tros, where we at? Yeah, we like the baseball team here. We wanted the president to see your future. All right, we want you to know who the next pitcher and shortstop and quarterback was all your stadium in this stadium, stadium, music players, we gonna play soccer, football. But, um, I, I would definitely say I didn't grow up playing baseball. Um, and I, as I just, I don't think I knew a whole lot of, of baseball. Uh, but I do know economic development. I know what it takes to make the city grow and Wilson is on the move. Wilson is on, I say again, Wilson is on the move on the news. We have a state payment coming, but more importantly, we have 2/200 million dollars of private investments coming along with it. Let me say one more time, $200 million I've heard so many times there's nothing to do. Wilson. Guess what, all that has changed, the game has changed. You want something to do, go to a baseball game, you want something to do, go to the baseball stadium, you want something to do. Go downtown where the WG and the baseball stadium is, I, I only gave you three things to do at once. Right. But I just see this project as an opportunity to not only provide growth for Wilson now, but more importantly, growth for Wilson, for our future and our youth that are coming home. This, this project is going to enhance the lives of not only us who are here now but our Children and our children's Children. And that's what is important to me. So I want to say again, thank you all for being here and let's have a good time doing this groundbreaking. Thank you mayor. Uh Next, I get to introduce one of two people in Wilson County that voted for this project twice. They're both on the stage today. Um James Johnson is not only a city council member but a member of our, our tourism board and it has been very active in promoting all types of tourism to Wilson, but especially around sports tourism. Councilman Johnson was first elected to the city council in 1992. Wow. And has served as mayor of proton since 2002 in 1989. Graduate, graduate of Atlantic Christian College now Barton College, one of our supporters of this project where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, also, uh Wilson native and a Hunt Hoskin graduate. Um, he's a general agent owner of his family's insurance agency. He's past president of Wilson Association of Life underwriters, uh, past chairman of the Board of trustees for the Community College where he served for 16 years and he's active in many local state and regional organizations. So, um James has been here on the council for the entire time. I've been here for 21 years and I'm not sure if that's a testament to him or a cheer for me, but I survived all of that. And I'm really glad to have him uh be a critical part of this team. He helped me uh on many occasions to see the perspective that I needed to see, to make this palatable for the City Council and the Community Change Council. Good Morning Grant likes to tell the story of the three legs how nt the city and the world came together. But I, I'm gonna use this. I know you've had your kids, they have the puzzle pieces and you have the, the 10 puzzle piece board to begin with and then you grow the puzzle pieces out and uh our puzzle just always change because we don't know the pieces will fit in. So that first piece is the whirl gate part that whirl gate part, leveraged the loss across the street from it. And that has just grown to where we got Centro NSD coming in with a vision on what else we could add in combination with the city staff is, is kind of uncommon if you look around the other communities in our, in our state that you have a leadership team and your elected body agreeing almost everything because we're all focused with the county commissioner or a city council. You won't improve the lives for everybody. And the way that's gonna happen with this project because I was telling somebody earlier, this, this is about the sports entertainment venue. That's what this is today. But there's so much more going on with and he was modest, Andrew with 200 million. There's a big expectation, there's a bigger expectation than that Carlton, but he's, he's trying to be polite to you. I'm gonna call y'all from everybody. Um Each piece that comes into play is just gonna improve the lives of everybody. We're gonna be going that way to 301 with the development. We've got land, we're moving that way that's helping more than just people coming to watch a baseball game. Now, I'm glad you all are here. It's certainly gonna put a big exclamation point on this downtown. But going that way is really gonna transform us for the betterment for everybody and the partnerships we have developed with tourism, tourism joined us in 2007 to build our little, our Little League complex and those dollars were very important to make a first class facility. Now, we got NSB Milwaukee and the city and the county to make this a first class project. And that's what we've always done is going first class. Does it cost a little more to go first class? Yeah, that's why we're innovated to cut other places to make things like this happen. And I'm just very proud of all the partnerships we made because it wouldn't be possible without it. So thank you all for coming. And I'm hoping that we'll be having these all over downtown sooner rather than later. But thank you all for investing. You've already heard the word partnership several times and get used to it because that's really the theme of making this project happen. Um The next speaker I have the privilege of introducing is uh our chairman of the county commissioners, Rob Boy, also a native and a graduate of Rock Ridge High School, East Carolina University. Um And he interesting enough, he has a BS in history, a minor in political science and a master's in history. Um As far as I'm concerned based on my observation, he had a master's in political science, but uh he's, he's, he's definitely been a great asset to our community. And when you see all the different ways that he's contributed, I think you'll be impressed as a professional career. He, he led our state as the director of operations for more than 24 historic sites across our state and a 32 year career and had many accolades and awards that he received during his professional career. But he's also had a lifetime commitment to community involvement that predates his elected position, uh Youth Athletic Association um of uh of Wilson County, Rock Ridge Youth Athletic Association, high, high, high school, very involved in the parent teacher organization and fundraising, very involved in his church, Mar Swamp. Um and uh the farm uh back of Farm Life Museum board. Wilson 2020 board of advisors um for H partnership for H youth as advisory. But let me just read the boards that he is currently serving on you. You can keep count. Wilson County Board of Commissioners who have been the chairman since 2018, Wilson County Tourism Development Board. So he's the second person in Wilson County that voted for this project twice, East Point Mental Health Board, Eastern North Carolina School for the death board of trustees, board member of Friends of Bentonville Battlefield State historic site, Wilson Community College Board Trustees, Wilson Chamber of Commerce turning point, workforce development chairman. So I don't know what he does in his spare time, but his life is full of community service and I didn't even get into some of the clubs like the rotary club that he's been a long supporting member of. So he's known for a lot of things in this community. But personally, I know him as a gentleman and a statesman and I'm honored to introduce him to Rob. See, good morning everyone. Thank you for being here. This is a great, fantastic day for Wilson Wilson County and all of our citizens and it takes all of us to make this happen. And you, you're hearing a lot today about partnerships and that truly is what this is all about. And I want to start by introducing the rest of our county commissioners. Uh Commissioner Chris Hill, commissioner Les Atkinson, commissioner Jo Anne Daniels, commissioner Michael Weatherington, and Commissioner Sherry Lucas. Would you please see him? Ok. After careful consideration and due diligence performed by commissioners and staff, the Wilson County commissioners are excited to join with the city of Wilson in making this project a reality. It reminds me of how local and federal government entities joined forces in 1938 39 to create municipal stadium which became Flemings Stadium as a works progress administration project. That stadium hosted professional baseball for decades. Major league stars such as Rod Carruth thought they star in communities such as Wilson. We thank the Milwaukee Brewers organization but their leadership and commitment to return professional baseball to Wilson County and almost spearheaded by baseball, the project can be much more commercial and residential development, can recreate downtown Wilson and bring visitors and new residents to our county. And thank you NSB for what you're doing this new and exciting entertainment venue is a great opportunity for our county. Again. We thank the Brewers, the city, the Tourism Development Authority and our citizens for their vision and leadership. Now, if I could take just a moment, I would, I would like to invite everyone here and others listening to be back here two years from now for the first day. Get here early. Yeah, here for banning practice. We want to see how much power our team has got be here for teams to take the infield. We need to see what kind of shortstop arm we've got and whether the right fielder can throw him out at third, the grounds crew will take the field to dress and line the field and get it looking as good as any field anywhere. And then there'll be a meeting at home plate umpires and head coaches, lot of cards will be exchanged and ground rules will be discussed because we need to know what's in play and what's out of play. Then the home team will take the field and we'll hear the national anthem played for the first time in the new stadium after the national anthem warm up pitches will be done. Arms will get loose and the home plate umpire will bend down with a brush to wipe off her plate. Pitchers don't need any excuses and then after he's cleaned the plate, he'll stand back up, he'll look out to the field he'll look over the visiting team, he'll look at the on deck circle and he will shout those words so famous in baseball play ball. Our next speaker is uh the final piece of the community play that we're gonna cover today. Uh Charlie Bedgood um is known by many in the community um currently serving as chair of our tourism board. Um Charlie's been a pioneering and determined force for the growth and prosperity of Wilson for many decades. As many of, you know, he's also a Wilson native, a fight, a fight high school graduate. Um He's uh he started work at his family's fourth generation business, Carolina office project products when he was 14 and he led the business for 25 years before recently retiring. If I'm not mistaken, I think there's a stadium at Five Castle that has the bedding field name on it. So his family tradition uh that good. Very good. It's all the same. You must not have paid up last summer. It was easy to change. I didn't have to change a lot of letters, but uh he's known a lot for his community involvement. Um And in the seventies and early eighties, uh he helped start a group called the Heart of Wilson Associates. And as best we can tell that's one of the earliest ventures into downtown redevelopment. And you know, that we found in, in our history. And uh this group really took an interest in downtown as early as the late seventies and early eighties, uh they purchased the Boykin Theater, which is now a community asset. Um The former BB and T building, that's uh that was our Arts Council for so long. Um And they really made a difference in an impact on saving some of our buildings and helping save uh the foundation of what we're building on today. He's a founding member of the Wilson Greater Wilson Rotary Club. Uh He served as president there. Um Also, I'd like to say that that his sons are following in the family tradition as well and have and have held several leadership positions in the community. Uh He served on the Wilson rec commission for many years, including as chair. But the interesting story I wanna tell you is that uh uh his tenure created a controversial decision to permit alcohol sales at Fleming Stadium, which has never been done before. Uh This gave way to decades of successful events uh driving tourism. Uh But throughout the ordeal, he caught a little heat and there was a local pastor that uh declared 40 days and 40 nights of rain at the home of Charlie Bed means Charlie had the nicest lawn in the, in the city for a few years. After that, we've had a couple of drought since then. We might, could have used that if we could have called you up. But, um Tom certainly favored that decision, Charlie. Uh In fact, we wouldn't be here today without some of the, of the decisions that have been made before us. But, you know, Charlie hasn't faded away as a wallflower. In fact, most recently, he's famous for undressing at the city council hearing to vote on this very project. And, uh, I heard that, that he got counseled that he couldn't pull anything like that today, but in honor of his spirit, I will do it for you. Uh OK, they learn. Yes, that was nice. Hey, fantastic. I got a ball boy trial this afternoon. I heard the general manager was here. I would try to get a jump on things. Charlie. Thank you for all of you and the bed good family have done for generations and I'm honored to introduce you to see today. Great. Thank you. I wish my mother was living to hear that introduction. She doesn't remember it that way. I'd like to thank Rebecca and Dale for this great gathering. The wonderful breeze. No sun, no heat. And I never had, I, I didn't have any idea. I have such an influence on you. When I was in school in Chapel Hill. The house, my friends used to make fun of Wilson because we had a rooster on the water tower and that we were wide awake. Wilson. Well, how about cock? A dole do boy? I, well, hey, it is what it is. I, I usually try to prepare something that when I come to speak of something like this. But these guys got the numbers and these guys got the stories. I just wanna thank our Tourism Board for being part of this and, and, and, and being strong and solid in support of this project. I, I really appreciate the city, the County NSV, the Brewers. Hey, this is great. I mean, this is absolutely great. The one number I can give you and tell you about a project. I'm not a, a guy. I like women over here that can tell you how much it's gonna bring in and what it's gonna do. But back in the day when Stuart Watson and Richard Herring had the idea of the Gillette Park. It was a swamp, it was nothing and it was very unpopular. As of yesterday, the Gillette Park has had a $59 million economic impact to Wilson. Think about that 69 million. So the message that I bring to you today, if we can go out there by ourselves as just a small group, take a swamp and turn it into $59 million. Tell what these guys can do. I thank you for allowing me to speak to you today and let's play by. I, I can't believe you stole my stick. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty confident you ain't lying. All right. So we talked about three legs of the stool, the partnerships and everything. And, uh, you know, somebody has got to show the money, we've got to figure out how to pay for something that's just expensive in these days, but it's not something that you want to be overly burdensome on the tax base. And the way you do that is you grow, you know, and you have to make an investment to get a return on investment and most things I've been involved with and we're making this investment in this community stadium. Uh We get a great return on that with a great team that's committed to us for 25 years, 25 years. But what makes the numbers work is that the stadium is a catalyst? Um A lot of people in the community understandably thought that this project was all about baseball. Um But if you look at the numbers uh this project that is about community growth, advancement and, and development and, and what makes that possible is to have developers who believe in your community who aren't in here to D one project and run uh to do a quick flip. Um If we were interested in working with those type of developers, we could have 100 in here within a few weeks. But it's really important. I think at critical times in your community's history to make sure you align yourself with the right parties. We felt that way with the Brewers and we certainly feel that way with NSC. So I have the pleasure of introducing uh Michael Lemansky with NSC development. So Michael's had a lot of success in redeveloping downtown Durham and more recently in similar size communities to Wilson, like an Virginia Canna Polis and Concord, North Carolina. He played a leading role in bringing baseball to downtown Canna Polis in Fayetteville and served as a master developer for development around those pier stadiums. Um I work uh with NSD is long standing. Um They uh developed the central apartments, the side of our new here in Town Y MC A for example, along with other investments in our community, Michael is the founding and managing partner of NSZ and he's responsible for the strategic partnerships, vision and company oversight. He's got 25 years in the real estate investment business, redevelopment fund management. Um He's created a number of successful companies um and he's best known probably for his master development work helping transform downtown Durham. Uh Michael started and led uh green fire real estate holdings which is responsible for the acquisition and redevelopment of over 28 distressed properties and over 400 million in private investment. Uh Michael also served as a family director of a consulting firm VF I based out of school government as a firm that can. That's an organization that continues to help local governments across the state on a daily basis including the city of Wilson. In addition to his work with NSC Michael is the founder of Rivermont Capital, uh managing multiple real estate private equity funds. He's been a frequent lecturer at UN C uh on public private partnerships um and has served on the boards for big brothers, big Sisters. Downtown Durham Incorporated, the Durham Arts Council and the Research Channel Park Region Regional Partnership and for AC C fans, he's got you covered because he graduated from honors with the state with a degree uh from NC State with a degree in chemical engineering and environmental science. But he also received his MB A from UN C. So pretty much you got the basis covered Michael. Thank you. Thank you, Grant. But just to be clear, it's all about the wolf pack go to on behalf of my partner Dwayne Washington and, and Andrew Holton and the whole team at NSP Development. I can't tell you how excited we are to be here for this important moment in Wilson's history. NSD was born and bred in North Carolina. So we have a personal stake in creating thoughtful and successful projects. We thank each of you for the trust you have put in us on this project here today. As grant mentioned two years ago, almost to the day NSC broke ground on Centro at Pine National Harvey Community, which was the last phase of our first public private partnership here in Wilson. We were so impressed and inspired by the partnership and commitment that we received from the City of Wilson uh council and staff that within a week of that groundbreaking, we started to focus on what additional transformational development we thought the market could support here. We knew that the city leaders had envisioned the potential for Wilson to support a minor league baseball team. But to be honest, there are a lot of communities that think they have what it takes for minor league baseball. But when we introduced the Milwaukee Brewers leadership team to the Wilson team, it seemed like love at first sight Over the last two years, the city of Wilson has continued to fight above its weight class to demonstrate, not just a commitment to invest in itself but to work harder and smarter the communities much larger in size. We believe that it was that passion, effort and commitment that convinced the Brewers to see the potential here that we see the Brewers and their affiliated Mudcat team didn't need to move for this opportunity to work. They had to be convinced that this project was more about more than just a stadium, but it was an opportunity to create a centerpiece in an emerging downtown that was ready to make a statement. We look forward to seeing the Brewers become deeply ingrained in this community and seeing how they bring this stadium to life for NSV. We are honored to be a part of this partnership and we are inspired to use this impressive public investment to attract more than 1000 new residential units, creative office space, vibrant retail spaces and southern hospitality throughout downtown. When we are all done, we want this downtown to be the most dynamic walkable fun downtown in eastern North Carolina, we believe this will not just be a place where Wilsonian's are proud to call their own, but where folks from all over the southeast are considering it a destination not to be missed. In closing. I'd like to thank everyone on the project team that has been working so hard to bring this vision to reality. We look forward to many more milestones, working through inevitable challenges and working with everyone here to make this project the envy of the East. I would not see that morning, but we've heard from um the decision makers on the public side who took the decisions to invest your money, our public money very seriously. We've heard from Michael Lemanski, um who is a private investor and I just want to point out that uh these folks are investing their own money. And so when he talks about the pride and confidence that they have in Wilson, uh they're putting their money where their mouth is and uh they've been fully vested with us from day one. I have the next opportunity to introduce the president of business operations for the Milwaukee Brewers. And let me just say that the Brewers have been the most hospitable. Uh As you can imagine, they, they, they uh they've really treated us uh with the utmost respect and these people uh operate uh numerous teams in uh much larger venues than Wilson, North Carolina. Yet, they never made us feel like we were the second thing on the agenda. Any time that we spent in their presence, we had their focus and their attention. The fact that today uh the, the, the groundbreaking, not the ribbon cutting, but the groundbreaking for a single A team has both the president of business operations and the general manager uh missing some home games. I understand to be here with us, I think shows uh how important this project is to the Brewers. Rick. He enters his 22nd season with the Brewers A six in his current position. Um He's had previous roles throughout the organization including executive vice president of business operations and chief operating officer. Uh As you might imagine, by the title, he oversees pretty much everything on the business operations side of finance, human resources, information technology, um ticketing, sponsorship, marketing, business analytics, broadcasting stadium operations, and even non baseball, special events. So in addition, he oversees the American family fields of Phoenix, which is the team's uh training uh complex. So the Brewers have established records in nearly every aspect of business during his tenure, over 2.5 million fans have passed it against an American family field in 13 of the past 15 seasons. Um 2020 21 obviously had some COVID restrictions. But in that time, the organization built to focus on the fan experience and that was ever, that was very obvious when we were able to visit them. Uh They've developed new and enhanced partnerships. Um They've completed several major development projects uh with a lot of different stakeholders. Uh recent investments uh include as a fan experience at American community build, include the new scoreboard, uh digital boards in right field, the barrel yard and ex golf even. So we, we haven't built X golf in yet because our, our, our, our price got a little high. We're trying to keep it curtailed, but that might be something for the future. Um Rick recently joined elected officials in leading a successful effort to secure a lease extension for the Brewers at American Family Field, the new lease and associated funding uh to maintain and improve the ballpark, ensures that American Family Field will be home to the Brewers through at least 2050. And I wanted to highlight that point because 20 years from now, there'll be some renegotiations uh that have to take place in Wilson or in any community where you have a team. Um But I watched from afar as he worked with the legislature uh in his state and uh the commitment that he had to the city, Milwaukee to the team. Uh and uh quite frankly his negotiation skills, his interpersonal skills, they all played a role. And uh I let him serve as a mentor to me from a distance and watching how he handled those difficult situations. Um Prior to joining the Brewers, he had five seasons as vice president, uh uh legal Affairs and assistant general manager for the Anaheim Angels. And uh he's a five beta K graduate from the University of Wisconsin Madison with a law degree from Harvard. So it's my pleasure to introduce Rich. That was a long instruction. I was going to fall asleep. Um There are so many people uh on behalf of girls that we wanna thank and, and sitting up here today, I realized that probably the most important person is Charlie. You know, beer and Milwaukee are synonymous. Beer sales at a ballpark are an important revenue stream. So your dedication to allowing alcohol to serve at ballparks. I I thank you, sir. Just get used to the rain, ok? If you don't mind raining, we have a roof in Milwaukee. We'll talk about one here. Um You know, success, you know, has 1000 moms and dads and there are so many people behind me in front of me. This whole community really deserves a round of applause for bringing you vision to reality. Um When we first met with Grant and his staff uh several years ago, um you know, Grant said to me, you know, I'll use his, his voice. He goes, we might be small but we swing big. And I remember sitting next to Tyler Barnes, who, who's the point person? Andro for all this stuff? I said what did he say? Um we're from, we're from the north. We're, we speak a different dialect, but, you know, we're two people separated by common language, but she was, were grant and delivered. And in what we did in Milwaukee with dealing with the legislature, elected officials, business community, uh nonprofits to get our situation in Milwaukee solidified for the next generation. We saw that here. Um And I will tell you that the, the effort and the work product uh by this community, by the elected officials, by NSV, um by all the people that made this happen. It's, it's truly a privilege to be associated and be partners with everybody. Um No, we have a great business community where we are in Zebulon and a lot of those folks are gonna be part of the next business community here. We're excited to be part of this business community. This is a great city with tremendous potential. And one of the things that struck us, you know, when we were talking to, to grant and his team is, is, you know, you might not think walking and Wilson have much in common, you know, we, we don't have the same weather. Um But we share a common vision. We're scrappy, you know, community, uh pride, hard-working, ethical, honest, uh with vision. And we see that in Milwaukee and we see that in Wilson. So it is an honor to be here to be part of this for this historic day. Um And you know, we're just, you know, privileged to be part of this community. So we look forward to spending the next generation with all of you here as we build on the players that ultimately are gonna be major league players as, as Matt will talk about player development is a big part of our DNA. So the players you're gonna see here in Wilson are gonna be major league players, hopefully the Brewers unless you trade some of them. But the reality is is you're gonna see high quality baseball. This is a great opportunity to build fans and build the next generation. So, thank you very much to our students in the back. Thank you for your patience. I don't think at that age I could have stood and listened to the speeches that you heard so far. But I think you're gonna be really excited because, uh you know, a high school baseball player gets to meet a general manager for a major league baseball team in their hometown. That's a pretty cool day, right? At least it's better than class. So I have the privilege to introduce Matt Arnold. Uh Matt uh enters his ninth season with the Brewers fourth as general manager um and second leading the organization's baseball operations. He was named the 10th manager in franchise history on November 19th 2020 was promoted to hit uh baseball operations in October of 22. He originally joined the Brewers as a vice president and assistant general manager in 2015 in eight seasons, he's helped Milwaukee, uh to the third best winning percentage in the national league, five postseason berths and three national league central division titles. The Brewers won 92 games and collected their third national league central division title in a six year span in Arnold's first season leading baseball operations in 2023. Prior to joining the Brewers, Arnold spent nine seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays. Um in autumn, he uh works with player acquisitions contract negotiations, player evaluations at all levels. His responsibilities also include strategic planning, uh and investments, uh coordinating advanced scouting and other duties, but most important, I think to all of you, this man knows baseball and it's an honor to have him here today, speaking with us on this joyous occasion. Thank you, Grant. You were joking earlier about the workout. Wow. Oh boy. I, I mean we got coaches here, we got trainers here and I gotta stop watching the car. I wanna get, I wanna get loose. So we got, we got here. Um Thank you all so much for coming. Today means a lot. Um Thank you for your hospitality. Thank you for your commitment to the future of professional baseball in this great community. Our partnership here isn't just about baseball, it's about bringing people together with the Brewers. The future starts right here in Wilson. We have so many homegrown talents on the field today in the major leagues. And our next generation of major league players will all start their journeys right here. The other day, somebody asked me about the toughest part of my job. And I told them it's trading players. It's because we get to know them right here at the beginning of their journey. We get to know them as kids. We get to know their families and we, and we get to know them as people. And I know our players will be in good hands here in Wilson. There's a lot of pride that comes with having a professional team in your backyard. I grew up in a small town with a professional, a ball team. When you grow up with a team in your hometown, the only thing you want as a kid and as a parent is to have a major league experience, it doesn't have to be a major league game. It just needs to feel like a major league experience. And I can tell that's exactly what's gonna happen here because of all, how much you all care about this community and the pride that Wilson has shown in this entire endeavor, going to games as a kid with my dad in Bakersfield. I remember everything about it. I remember eating amazing foods, spending time with my friends and family watching stuff blow away. Uh my dad, my dad arguing with umpires. Um I mean, incredible, incredible memories that I will I will treasure forever and memories I want to pass on to my kids and memories you will be able to share with yours. Wilson has a chance to create those same memories for the next generation of families here in this community. So thank you for creating those memories. Thank you for your care for our wonderful sport. And thank you for your partnership with the Milwaukee Brewers. So there are a couple of other uh thank yous that I would like to take the privilege um to express at this time, uh We had several groups in the community uh come out and publicly expressed support to the City council and the county commissioners that includes the Wilton Economic Building Council, the Barton College Board of Trustees, our Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. I see several of you here today and we really do appreciate your support. Um Also, um we had to acquire a lot of property for this project that we did not already own. And I want to take my hat off to the city council who from the very beginning said that, hey, we, we, we don't want to condemn property for this project even though we may have the legal ability to do so. We just have no interest in doing that if, if we can possibly acquire it without using that governmental power and we stayed committed to that. But there were some cases where we didn't think we were going to be successful in. Um, the only reason that I'm halfway decent at my job is because I know what I'm good at and what I'm not good at. And most of the things I find someone that's better than myself. And so Jennifer Lance uh stepped in Wilson County properties and our economic development director and she helped us acquire some properties and negotiated with people on behalf of the city. We want to express our appreciation to her and also to the Ball Simpson, uh Burle Gate Park and Museum. You know, I'm not sure we'd be here today either without their vision and their investment and their support and uh we want them to be an integral part of this moving forward. So I wanna thank them as well. Uh Just some logistics. So as soon as we conclude the speakers here on the podium, uh we need you to come over and uh take a photo for the official groundbreaking, but then we have a treat because we're gonna leave the photographers and the, the Ss and we're gonna allow others to have pictures as well if you would like including the high school teams. And if you're, you're lucky, you might even get a picture with a AAA General manager. That'd be pretty cool. I would think so. Um We have the ground baking site right behind us. Um We have our planned photos and then everyone else is welcome to take a photo. Uh after we're done. So thank you for coming today. It means a lot to us if you took the time to come out and many of you had to stand and we apologize for that. But uh let's uh let's do a groundbreaking, let's get this thing done. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you when they say I I the