MLB won’t consider game at Grand Teton National Park, says was only conducting initial due diligence

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball won’t consider staging a game in western Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred sent a letter Thursday to Teton County Commissioner Chair Mark Newcomb, Jackson Mayor Arne Jorgensen and Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce President Rick Howe, who wrote to Manfred voicing objections on Monday following a report in The Washington Post that Grand Teton was under consideration.

Manfred sent a similar letter to U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico.

“MLB has no formal plan to play a game in Grand Teton National Park,” Manfred wrote. “Our team was conducting initial due diligence on many potential sites when this story was reported and we had made no decision of the feasibility of staging a game in Grand Teton National Park. We also had not reached the stage in our due diligence in which we evaluated the environmental impact or spoke to members of the community to solicit their views — steps that would have certainly been a part of any process should it have moved forward.”

Manfred then said Grand Teton wouldn’t remain under consideration.

“Since the story was reported, it has become clear the local community does not want us to continue evaluating Grand Teton National Park as a potential site,” Manfred wrote. “We obviously would not bring a game to a community that has concerns about the venue and will not continue to evaluate Grand Teton National Park as a potential site.”

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MLB and the players’ association have played a handful of regular-season games away from the 30 big league ballparks in recent years, including in the Iowa cornfields made famous by the movie “Field of Dreams.”

Grand Teton includes a commercial airport — the busiest in Wyoming — and a vast expanse of Jackson Hole bottomlands with spectacular views of the Teton Range.

“We are grateful that Major League Baseball heard the roar of the crowd and rightfully recognized that Grand Teton is already a field of dreams, filled with mountains, forests, wild nature and wildlife that attracts millions of dedicated fans each year,” Allison Michalski, Grand Teton senior program manager for National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement. “The bases were loaded with opposition, and this news is a grand slam for Teton county communities and the enduring legacy of Grand Teton National Park.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here