Lansing Lugnuts

1
Lansing Lugnuts

• Kelly Harmon
• Miranda Milett
• Tina Spencer

2
The Big Question 1

• How do the Lansing Lugnuts give and take from the
  community?

3
Findings Narrative

• The Lansing Lugnuts are an integral part of the
  community.
• The Lugnuts are part of a foundation that
  supports existing programs and creates new
  opportunities to benefit youth in the Lansing
  Community.
• The Lugnuts games increase the population of
  downtown Lansing which generates more business
  for local merchants.
• Oldsmobile park brought more than 1,200 part
  time and full time positions to the downtown
  area.
• The Lansing Lugnuts have given the City of
  Lansing a sense of community pride.
• Oldsmobile Park is used for a variety of local
  events, festivals, sports, and entertainment.

4
Responses to Sub Questions Follow
5
When did the Lugnuts come to Lansing?What was
their origin?

• The Lugnuts planned to move from Springfield,
  Illinois in 1995.
• Their first season in Lansing was 1996.
• The Lansing Lugnuts are a Chicago Cubs affiliate.

6
What programs, organizations, and charities do
the Lansing Lugnuts support or sponsor?

• Lugnut charities give back to the community that
  has supported the Lansing Lugnuts.
• Since 1996 Lugnut charities have contributed
  more than 75,000 to programs and projects in the
  community.
• O.K. Kids program for local middle school
  students to provide incentives for kids to reach
  goals.
• Lugnut charities support Impression 5 Museum.
• Lugnut charities sponsor Grand Slam School Day to
  challenge students to learn and excel in
  classroom.

7
How did the community support the decision to
bring the Lugnuts to Lansing?

• Positive
• Oldsmobile helped put Lansing on the map. The
  park parallels the history of minor league
  baseball with the history of automobiles.
• The ballpark was a stepping stone in the
  revitalization process of Lansing.
• Provides whole-family entertainment at a
  reasonable price.
• Completely accessible for physically-challenged.
• The City of Lansing owns Oldsmobile park.

• Negative
• Not all people approved of the name of the team.
• The community was concerned about the limited
  space for the site of the ballpark.
• Some people were skeptical about the longevity of
  the team.

8
Big Question 2

• How has the Lansing Lugnuts organization affected
  the economic status of Lansing?

9

• By the end of 2000, Olds park brought more than
  1,200 part time and full time positions to the
  downtown area.
• Businesses in close proximity to the stadium,
  generally experience increased business before
  and after games.
• Many local merchants have steady or increased
  revenue since the building of Olds park.
• The construction was completed by local
  craftspeople and contractors.

10
Why did the City of Lansing decide to bring the
Lugnuts to town?

• Help in the redevelopment of the downtown area.
• David Hollister, Lansings Mayor, wanted to make
  the City a tourist destination and revitalize the
  area.

11
How was the money generated to build Oldsmobile
Park?

• Oldsmobile Park is owned by the City of Lansing
  and was financed by six local banking
  institutions.
• The cost to build Olds Park was 13 million.
• The team is sponsored by many local businesses.

12
Describe the economic status of the downtown area
before and after the Lugnuts joined the community.

• After
• More restaurants and bars, which attract a
  variety of patrons.
• Michigan Avenue has been cleaned up and people
  like to visit.
• Family oriented environment.
• Increased business for local merchants.

• Before
• Few places to dine.
• Not family oriented.
• Lacked aesthetic qualities.
• Limited nightly entertainment.

13
How have local businesses been affected?

• Negative
• Other downtown businesses, or those not as close
  to Lugnut action, dont get the same effect.
• Moriartys Pub and Stobers Cocktail Lounge
  expected to get more business than they have
  actually seen. They are trying to develop ways
  to draw the baseball crowd their way.
• People are less inclined to visit bars with their
  children.
• Claras does not get a big rush before or after
  games, their business is steady.
• The Blue Coyote was a thriving new restaurant a
  block from the stadium. This restaurant was
  successful during the season but could not
  withstand the lull of the off season.

• Positive
• The Nuthouse opened in conjunction with the
  inaugural game of the Lugnuts. Lansing nightlife
  thrives when the team plays. People come in
  before and after games.
• Rum Runners is across the street from Olds park
  and business explodes after games.
• Bonnies Place was known for Lansings best
  burger. When Olds park opened Bonnies place had
  to relocate shortly after to accommodate the
  crowds.
• Several new bars have been opened to draw in
  people for nightly entertainment, 621 and The
  Exchange.
• All of the above establishments notice a
  considerable drop in patrons during the off
  season.

14
Data CollectionWe proceeded by

• visiting downtown Lansing and taking pictures of
  Olds Park and surrounding businesses
• using maps of downtown Lansing before and after
  the building of Olds Park
• interviewing a family member who resides in
  downtown Lansing and Lansing suburbs. telephoning
  local merchants and using information from
  articles to gather data
• Including newspaper articles from The State News
  and The Lansing State Journal
• using information from websites.

15
Data Collection

• Interview Question Bank
• In what ways did the Lugnuts games help your
  business?
• How has your business changed since the opening
  of Olds Park?
• What the drawbacks to having Olds Park and the
  Lugnuts in Lansing?
• Were there any controversies that accompanied the
  arrival of the Lansing Lugnuts?
• Overall, what is your opinion of the
  revitalization efforts of the City?
• What were the benefits of bringing the Lugnuts to
  Lansing?

• Websites
• http//www.lansinglugnuts.com
• http//www.lansinghomeowner.com/content/article.ht
  ml?id47697

16
Recommendations for further study or
investigation.

• Questions that went unanswered
• What do the Lugnuts take from the community? We
  found very little information about the negative
  effects of having a team in the downtown area.
• More time could have been spent researching
  businesses that went out of business since 1996.

• Predictions
• The Lugnuts continue to have a good team and fan
  support.
• The partnership with GM is valid until 2011 for
  the naming rights of the stadium.
• We predict that the Lugnuts and Oldsmobile Park
  will continue to thrive for a minimum of 5 more
  years.

17
Reflections

• We found it somewhat difficult to choose a topic
  for the inquiry project.
• Once the topic was chosen we were able to easily
  develop Big Questions and Sub Questions.
• We found that working in a small group was
  helpful to dividing responsibilities. It was
  convenient that two of the members lived in the
  community we were investigating.
• Because the topic we were investigating is
  current, there were limited resources about the
  historical aspect of the topic.

18
Museum Lesson Plan

• Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
• http//www.baseballhalloffame.org
• How does the heritage of baseball mirror the
  history of America?
• Compare and contrast the baseball stadiums of the
  early 1900s to the baseball stadiums of today.
• How did the achievements of women in baseball
  lead to a greater appreciation of equal
  opportunities throughout history and in our
  modern culture?