The City of Birmingham has lost its once secure grip on a $10 million youth baseball and softball academy that would provide free baseball and softball instruction and leagues as well as educational and vocational training for inner-city youth.

This academy, the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy, would be funded by the Major League Baseball Youth Foundation and operated by the MLB. There are 11 other academies across the U.S. The Birmingham academy would be the first such academy in the Southeast.

The MLB Youth Foundation wants to spend up to $10 million to build a complex with six manicured fields and indoor facilities at George Ward Park and provide free year-round baseball and softball training for city youth. MLB officials expect the academy will serve around 1,500 youth, the majority black or Hispanic.

However, after discussions with Birmingham neighborhoods, the MLB is reassessing where to put the academy. The MLB’s decision was announced in Tuesday’s city council meeting. The council was set to vote on the agreement during the meeting.

“Major League Baseball would like to thank the City of Birmingham and the Parks and Recreation Board for their hard work during this process. At this time, we are going to reassess our position relative to an MLB Youth Academy at George Ward Park and will remain open to other site options within the city,” MLB representatives said in a statement.

Council President Pro Tem William Parker called MLB’s decision to step back a setback for the city.

“This is a sad day for Birmingham when we let a few people decide what’s best for this city’s youth…We’re going to continue to have communications with Major League Baseball but this is obviously a setback. This whole project is about giving our young people an opportunity to participate in the academy and educational components that would come with that,” Parker said.

Councilman Parker says “this is a sad day for Birmingham.” He says he’s hopeful though and will continue having conversations with MLB. pic.twitter.com/j4Zo8lkpmr — Anna Beahm (@_AnnaBeahm) March 5, 2019

MLB’s decision came after a Monday night neighborhood meeting where MLB officials met with residents. MLB officials hoped to dispel rumors about the academy and answer questions.

However, even after questions were answered at the Monday night Glen Iris neighborhood meeting, some residents were still opposed to the academy being at George Ward Park. Not having the community completely on board with the academy was a deal-breaker for the MLB.

“At the meeting last night, it was obvious that the Glen Iris neighborhood was not in support of the academy being at George Ward Park,” MLB representative Tony Reagins told AL.com over the phone Tuesday. “We didn’t want to be in situation where there was pushback or that we were forcing this down any individual community’s throat. We didn’t want to be an organization that divided a community.

“In most cases when we’ve done this, we’ve been celebrated and welcomed into the community. We know the impact these programs can have but in this instance, there was a lot of misinformation being communicated. Once facts were provided, the neighborhood was still not supportive. It made it make more sense to reassess and make sure we’re doing the right thing and making a significant investment,” Reagins said.

Some residents who addressed the council Tuesday blamed the council for not distributing accurate information or answering questions about changes the MLB would bring to the park. Various rumors about the academy and how much of the park would be taken up by the academy spread throughout the community and led to the city council delaying a vote on the agreement last week.

Various sports teams and community groups have created and signed online petitions and led campaigns to oppose the academy, including New South Softball League, which threatened to leave Birmingham if the academy opened at George Ward Park. However, the city made an agreement with New South to keep the league’s annual Southern Shootout tournament by moving it to Cooper Green Park.

Building the academy would require MLB to “reconfigure” around 20 acres of land at George Ward Park, which is around 125 acres, MLB officials said.

The change would mean converting the park’s five existing softball fields at the top of the park into two full size baseball fields and two softball/little league fields. Indoor offices, batting cages and outdoor pitching mounds would also be built, MLB officials said. The changes would not affect the dog park, walking trail, tennis courts or disc golf course, officials said.

Mayor Woodfin criticized the “our park” and “don’t have it here” comments he’s heard from residents over the past few weeks.

“I thought cooler heads would prevail. I thought this conversation had calmed down,” Woodfin said. “I’ll try and make this short. I’ve received a lot calls and emails about this. I hear the word ‘our,’ over 100 times. Anyone who is comfortable using that language is missing the picture. The Friends of George Ward Park thinks it’s their park and if the park board wants to deed over the park to them, they will have no pushback from me.”

City officials say they expect to hold informational meetings about the academy with the public before the council votes on the agreement on March 19. Dates and times for that meeting have not been announced.

Woodfin’s office did not comment further on the matter.

Read the proposed agreement between the City of Birmingham and Major League Baseball here: