City to Pay Off Joe Becker Stadium Debt

Joplin’s (MO) debt for the 2015 rebuild of Joe Becker Stadium will be paid off later this year.  The City Council has agreed to a proposal by the finance director to use money in the general fund’s unrestricted fund balance to pay off the remaining debt.  The city owes $1.62 million of the $2 million it financed in an effort to enlarge the stadium for use by a professional baseball team.  Read more here.

It’s the ‘Joplin Miners’

Officials of the start-up Southwest League of Professional Baseball hope to bat a thousand by crowning their new baseball team in Joplin (MO) the Joplin Miners.  Read more here.

Blasters Will Take the Field, but Joplin Miners Will Be Protected

The owners of the new indy pro American Association franchise in Joplin (MO) chose to call the team the “Joplin Blasters” instead of the throwback “Joplin Miners,” but the historical moniker will be protected anyway via a trademark application filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the city back in February.  Read more here.