By Joseph Zuniga
Dominican University and the River Forest Park Board have failed to close a deal that would’ve allowed the women’s softball team to use River Forest’s Keystone Park for games and practice.
According to Dennis Healy, board member and treasurer, the board considered Dominican’s offer at several meetings, but eventually decided to take a pause and look at further review and discussion after opposition from many in the community,
“Anybody that had a public comment was against [the deal],” he shared.
During the Dec 9. meeting, 15 residents spoke up against the deal.
A petition against the deal was signed by 991 residents, many of whom expressed their opinion online with their signatures.
Residents stressed over multiple concerns with the deal. One major concern was that Dominican’s field schedule would overlap with River Forest’s youth baseball teams.
However, Healy says that’s not the case.
“With what information we were given (from Dominican), the softball team’s [playtime] would not overlap with the youth baseball teams,” he said.
Mike Grant, president of River Forest Park District, illustrated other concerns of the public, one of them being the use of branding and symbols on the field.
“A lot of people don’t like corporate sponsorship,” he said. “There’s a general reaction of sponsorship that people are uncomfortable with.”
Some residents had other concerns regarding the potential use of religious symbols.
“Church and state [are something] that some people don’t [appreciate] as well,” he explained.
While there is no current ongoing discussion about a new deal over Keystone, Grant believes there will possibly be another discussion in the latter half of this year.
The initial deal was an upfront payment of $200,000 to River Forest for 10 years of use. However, the deal was reduced to three years due to concerns of being stuck with a “bad” agreement for a lengthy period.
Healy also mentioned there were plans to get the in-field of Keystone Park turfed to meet regulations, so Dominican could play games as part of the deal.
Cristina Lukas, coach for the women’s softball team, was not too disappointed with the outcome.
The team has been practicing at Triton College as well as playing games at Rosemont’s Parkway Bank Sports Complex.
“As far as practice goes, we have Triton contracted through 2026,” she says. “We then [have to] figure out [whether] Keystone comes through or extends the Triton contract.”
Senior softball captain Emma Woodhouse feels excited to end her final season playing at Parkway Bank Sports Complex.
“It’s the nicest field in our conference,” Woodhouse shared. “It’s a professional softball stadium, so that’s our home.”
In the future, she believes the softball players will likely have the same number of benefits practicing and playing at Keystone as she has had at Triton and Parkway.
“[The benefits] would be about the same,” she highlighted. “The biggest advantage would be the fact that we would likely get first come first serve when it comes to practice times.”
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