March 2, 2018 Mayor Don Iveson 2nd Floor, City Hall 1 Sir Winston Churcl Edmonton, AB T5J 2R7 Square Dear Mayor Iveson and City of Edmonton Councilors; This past weekend I spent some time in Edmonton attending the Edmonton Prospects 2nd Annual Baseball Gala at the Fort Edmonton Blatchford Hangar. It was a great event celebrating baseball, leadership and the future of baseball in the Edmonton area As you may or may not know, | come to Alberta a few times a year to work with various baseball organizations by instructing at our Toronto Blue Jays Honda Super Camps. | also continue to ‘work with the Blue Jays organization as a Special Assistant to President, Mark Shapiro. lam very pleased with the ever improving quality of baseball in Alberta along with the enthusiasm and passion that | encounter wherever | go. Not only is the upswing of baseball in Alberta a result of the recent success of the Blue Jays, it is also largely due to organizations ‘such as the Edmonton Prospects who work with local grassroots baseball league players and Coaches to help improve their skills. This is essential in providing a very important link and catalyst in a chain that can aid Canadian athletes to the next level ‘The recently renamed RE/MAX Field is an important Centre of Excellence for aspiring baseball players. It provides a showcase venue to not only demonstrate skills and talents, but to inspire hundreds of thousands of kids throughout Western Canada by showing them that they too can have that opportunity to play in front of thousands of fans who respect their skill and accomplishments. While at the Gala the Prospects Owner, Mr. Patrick Cassidy, spoke passionately about this being a critical year for the ballpark as the City of Edmonton is in the midst of determining its long-term fate through its River Crossing Neighbourhood Structure Plan (NSP) project. | can't emphasize enough the importance of this ballpark for baseball in Alberta and, more importantly, how devastating it would be to the baseball community and the many young players. ifit were to be demolished. This would be a major step in the wrong direction especially when you consider all the progress that has been made by the Prospects over the course of the last few years.Mr. Cassidy talked about a Ballpark District and, in my view, this is not only a sensible approach but also a major potential economic opportunity for the city. | have seen the many benefits of Ballpark Districts throughout my baseball life and have experienced the energy, excitement, commerce and sense of community that exists within them, Should you or your planning team wish to discuss this further, my team and I would be more than happy to have those talks, Ihave made a commitment to Mr. Cassidy to do whatever | can do to see that this ballpark remains an integral and important piece of the Edmonton landscape. It represents thousands of memories and sits on a location that has historical significance to fans, athletes and historians alike. Yours truly, Roberto Alomar ‘Alomar Sports Inc 25 Lower Simooe Street (PH#1) Toronto, Ontario MJ 341 info@alomarsports.com