Commentary: Big Tent Ideas

An MLB Park In The Tetons? Yeah, That’s Not Happening.

[Screenshot/Rumble/CBS]

If you want to understand why President Donald Trump is so frustrated with the fake news emanating from the nation’s legacy media platforms, consider the latest offering from The Washington Post.

Based on nothing more than vague assertions by unidentified “officials” at the White House and Major League Baseball (MLB), the paper claims the Trump White House is giving consideration to building a “Field of Dreams” style baseball stadium smack in the middle of one of the most pristine wilderness areas in North America, Grand Teton National Park.

The very idea is patently absurd, yet the Post asks its reads to believe it is serious. 

The White House’s official response says everything: “This is not a presidential directive, nor is it being directed by the White House. It’s also not being driven by the Department of Interior. Therefore, this is not a White House or Administration priority.”

In other words, someone at MLB might well have broached some wild idea in a conversation recently. That is not remotely the same thing as a presidential plan, an Interior Department project, or an administration priority. But by the time the official denial appears buried down in paragraph six of the Post’s story, most readers have already moved on and the damage is done. 

This ridiculous hit piece struck a chord with me because I have had the privilege of visiting Grand Teton National Park at least 20 times in my life — it is one of my and my family’s favorite places on earth. I have driven through The Park, hiked within it, ridden horses all over it, and fished in its streams and lakes. I know from personal experience inside this grand jewel of America’s National Parks system that no such project would be feasible there. 

It is one thing to build a Field of Dreams in an Iowa cornfield and play an MLB game there each year. It is quite another thing to even consider a similar project in the Tetons.

Literally no infrastructure exists inside The Park adequate to support any such project. There are no roads capable of handling the traffic such a construction project and holding an MLB game would create. There is no area inside The Park where 50 to 100 acres could feasibly be dedicated to housing such a facility. 

Even if such a site could be identified, the damage to native plant life and wildlife would be so heinous that even the crassest industrialist would recoil in horror. Grand Teton National Park is home to some of the most abundant and diverse wildlife anywhere on this continent. It also sits amid spawning grounds and migration routes for major mammal and bird species, some of which are endangered. 

Building a man-made scar the size of an MLB facility would inevitably interfere with these critical habitats and routes. It would also create major battles with the usual array of non-governmental organization (NGOs) funded by leftwing billionaires over issues related to noise, traffic, emissions, view sheds and all the other complaints they deploy to gin up opposition to bogeymen like fracking and data centers. 

Creating that scar would inevitably become one of the most negative public-relations events in MLB history. It would make the left’s insane opposition to Trump’s White House Ballroom look like a middle school playground dustup by comparison.

Simply put: There is nothing remotely positive to be gained by anyone stupid enough to involve themselves in any such project. 

Americans who actually know Grand Teton National Park — who have stood on the banks of Jenny Lake, fished on the Snake River, watched the light hit the Cathedral Group, or witnessed a grizzly bear mother and her cubs traipse across an open meadow green with native grasses and a riot of native flowers — do not need a seminar to know this idea is utterly absurd. The media class that produced this story does not understand this park, but it does know the calendar. Election Day is coming and linking Trump to such a ridiculous plan can only help the Democrats. 

If you still wonder why the president has such a negative view of the legacy media after reading this, well, I can’t help you.

David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.