The Nampa School District is pursuing a land swap for a historic baseball field and adjacent park owned by the city. 

The district would get Rodeo Park and Stampede Park — neighboring facilities with baseball and softball fields — in exchange for 40 acres along Airport Road. 

Nampa High School does not have baseball or softball fields, and the land swap would give the Bulldogs teams their own facilities. The Nampa High baseball team uses Rodeo Park while the softball team uses city-owned West Park. Stampede Park has four softball fields.

School board trustees Monday gave district administrators the go-ahead to send a letter outlining the proposal to Mayor Debbie Kling and the Nampa City Council.

“This really just starts the talks,” trustee Brook Taylor said. 

But the initial green light didn’t come without some public consternation.

American Legion worries Rodeo Park lease is in jeopardy

Members of the American Legion, a military veterans’ service organization, are worried the land swap could jeopardize the group’s lease to use Rodeo Park for its summer baseball league.

American Legion Baseball is a national coalition of local leagues, popular among high schoolers during the summer months. The baseball field at Rodeo Park — officially called American Legion’s Lofholm Field at Rodeo Park — has hosted Nampa’s Legion games for a century.

The Nampa Babe Ruth League also leases fields at Stampede Park for its youth baseball and softball program. 

Scott Tighe, commander of American Legion’s Post 18 in Nampa, asked the school board to slow down Monday. Legion members found out about the proposal through the “rumor mill,” he said, and they feel that the group wasn’t “properly notified.”

“Perhaps representatives of the Nampa School District board (could) meet with us at the Post, meet with our membership at large, to explain what … the swap is,” Tighe said, “and allow our membership to feel that our longest-running program will continue to have a home here in Nampa.”

Cortney Stauffer, the school district’s executive director of operations, tried to relieve the Legion’s worries. Stauffer said district leaders hope to continue hosting American Legion and Babe Ruth if the swap goes through. He pointed to the draft letter to the city, which said the district would “preserve and enhance” the parks’ existing role in supporting the leagues. 

Stauffer also noted that Monday’s board decision was the “first step in many steps” to negotiate the trade, not the “culminating event. … This is the first step to solicit the City Council on their interest and if they would like to entertain this as well.”

Nampa’s parks and recreation department identified the district’s Airport Road property as a “potential site of interest,” according to a memo that Stauffer sent to the school board.

Coaches express support for district-owned fields

Coaches for Nampa High School’s baseball and softball teams spoke in support of the proposal Monday.

Kyler Wells coaches the Bulldogs’ varsity baseball team as well as the Nampa Chiefs, one of four area American Legion teams. The high school and Legion programs have a “long history” through a “joint effort to build a community with good baseball players,” Wells told the school board.

“That would be awesome for Nampa High School to have a field to call our own,” he said. “I want Nampa High School and American Legion to be a joint effort forever, because it helps build both programs and it’s better for the community.”

Softball coach Tim Mathson said a district-owned facility would instill pride among his players, and it would make Nampa High an eligible host for district and state tournaments. The softball team maintains West Park’s field, but the effort is wasted by other users, he said, and there’s no way to control who accesses the facility. Two recent break-ins “completely wiped out” concessions, he said. 

“We want to have a facility where all of us are proud to come,” Mathson said. 

Why not build fields at Nampa High School?

Trustees Stephanie Binns, Jeff Kirkman and Taylor approved Monday’s motion to begin negotiations for the city parks.

Trustee Carla Behrens abstained from voting. The first-term school board member is also a volunteer with American Legion.

Behrens asked Stauffer why the district can’t build its own baseball and softball facilities at Nampa High School. She suggested a grass field on the southwest corner of the campus as a potential location.

The district has already considered that option, Stauffer said, and decided it wouldn’t work. The space would be tight for multiple fields, and it would require landscape grading that would cost over $2 million. The district would also have to increase parking on campus, an additional cost, to comply with city code, he said. 

In 2023, the school district proposed a $210 million bond that would have financed, in part, a rebuild of Nampa High School, which would have included baseball and softball fields. But voters soundly rejected the measure with just 40% support. 

“I don’t see this community bonding anytime soon,” Taylor said.