Calmer waters might be on the horizon as the city of Billings and the Mustangs continue negotiations towards a new lease agreement for Dehler Park.
The Mustangs, an independent Pioneer League baseball team, have played in Dehler Park since its opening in 2008 and are currently in the last year of a 10-year lease agreement set to expire on December 31.
Under their current lease, the Mustangs pay the city $60,000 annually for the use of Dehler and full operational control of the facility, as well as the rights to keep all of the associated advertising, ticketing and merchandise revenues.
In return, they are responsible for managing the day-to-day cleanup of the stadium and for making necessary repairs under $5,000.
Billings retains legal ownership of the stadium, contributes $30,000 annually to fund ballpark repairs and is responsible for making any capital improvements to the stadium costing over $25,000.
Coming up on the end of their current lease agreement, the two sides had an option to renew it for another five years, but city leadership opted against doing so.
Mustangs and city of Billings at odds over new Dehler Park lease agreement
Negotiations began earlier this week as the city extended its first offer to the Mustangs. Under the terms of their proposal, the team's rent would be increased from $60,000 to $172,000 a year, the Billings Parks and Recreation Department would take over operational control of the facility and the city would take a cut of ballpark advertising and sales revenues.
Dave Heller, who is the owner of the Mustangs as president and CEO of Main Street Baseball, did not take kindly to the city’s initial offer, saying it would bankrupt the Mustangs and was a contract the city had no comparables for.
Negotiations resume
After letting the situation cool off, both sides resumed negotiations towards the end of the week.
Heller sent in a counterproposal to the city on Thursday afternoon. City leadership met on Friday to consider Heller's offer and weigh a counter of their own.
In a phone interview with the Billings Gazette, Heller did not disclose the terms of his offer, citing a desire to keep the discussions private.
However, he did say he was still taken aback by the city’s asking price and thought the Mustangs were still in the best position to run the stadium.
“I'm surprised at the degree to which the city is trying to make things difficult financially for the Mustangs. It just doesn't make sense to me,” he said. “We're doing awfully well in terms of maximizing usage of that ballpark and in addition, I brought Banana Ball to Billings. That will bring between 15,000 to 20,000 people to the city of Billings over three nights.”
Additionally, he said a new agreement needed to be in place by July 31 for schedule purposes, otherwise the Mustangs would not be able to play a full season in 2027. The Pioneer League was not immediately available for comment on the matter.
“I’m hopeful,” Heller said when asked if he thought a deal could be made before the end of July. “I’ve been reaching out to the city since the middle of last year to start these negotiations, but they waited until last Monday to have the very first conversation.”
City council member Scott Aspenlieder confirmed city leadership received Heller’s counteroffer and had met to discuss it on Friday afternoon. He said the offer was closer to what the city was looking for, but still not all the way there.
“Mr. Heller mentioned Great Falls, but we’re not interested in another city’s bad agreement,” he said. “This agreement he presented is just not going to work. It's closer, but there’s still a lot of details there that have to get ironed out.”
Aspenlieder respected Heller’s wishes to keep negotiations private and only revealed the city’s next offer would be similar to the deal Heller signed with the city of Modesto, California, for his other Pioneer League team, the Modesto Roadsters.
Regarding the July 31 deadline, Aspenlieder said the city, legally, could not meet it as the earliest an agreement could come before City Council for approval is August 10.
“The reality is we need to work to an agreement in principle on the key tenets and hopefully Main Street Baseball and the Pioneer League will accept that, but I’m confident it will work out,” he said. “We’re getting closer and we’re making meaningful progress towards a deal.”