Ontario looks to lure Quakes from Rancho Cucamonga

Ontario wants its own minor league baseball team.

Specifically, the city wants the team that’s been its next-door neighbor for the past three decades, and it’s planning to build a regional sports complex, with a state-of-the-art minor league baseball stadium and parking structure as its centerpiece, to make that happen.

On Aug. 15, the city council approved a memorandum of understanding between Ontario and the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, a member of the California League and a Single-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The memorandum proposes that Rancho Cucamonga build the stadium on approximately 200 acres of mostly open space just south of Whispering Lakes Golf Course.

The stadium, which could cost up to $95 million, will be part of a regional sports complex that will be finished in time for the start of the 2026 season.

Council members also approved agreements with Populous Inc. in Los Angeles and Tilden-Coil Constructors, Inc. in Riverside to provide architectural and engineering services and to oversee the construction of the stadium and parking structure, respectively.

The stadium and the parking structure combined will take up about 10 to 12 acres of the parcel, which is south of East Riverside Drive between South Vineyard and South Archibald avenues.

“You don’t have to ask how serious we are about getting the Quakes,” Ontario Mayor Paul Leon said. “We’re willing to build a stadium, which will be part of a regional sports complex, to get them. And the regional sports complex won’t work without a baseball stadium.”

If that’s the case, then Ontario will have to find another team to play in its new stadium, perhaps one of the seven other California League teams, said Rancho Cucamonga Mayor L. Dennis Michael.

“The  Quakes are not going to leave Rancho Cucamonga,” Michael said. “Some people might think that’s going to happen, but it’s not going to happen. I haven’t heard any elected officials discuss the Quakes leaving.”

If Ontario – which already has minor league hockey, basketball, and indoor soccer – wants a minor league baseball team, it should start building its stadium and begin negotiating with a team outside the local market, to move there, according to Michael.

“It bothers me that a neighboring city would try to lure the team away from us,” Michael said.

If Quakes’ officials have their way, the team will end up in Ontario, but only if several conditions are met, said Brent Miles, Quakes’ president.

First, the stadium must be built. Second, another team must be persuaded to move to LoanMart Field, the city-owned and operated facility that has been home to Quakes since the team moved to Rancho Cucamonga in 1993.

“A lot of things will have to take place, this move will have a lot of moving parts, but that is what we want to see happen,” Miles said. “We’d like to create a crosstown rivalry, like the Dodgers-Angels or the Yankees-Mets, but on a smaller scale.

“We believe the market is big enough to support two teams so close together.”

The Quakes and Rancho Cucamonga are negotiating a renovation to LoanMart Field that would cost $6 million to $8 million, Miles said.

Besides being in a large market that supports minor league professional sports LoanMart Field – formerly known as  The Epicenter – would be an attractive move for another reason: thanks to Major League Baseball, a lot of minor league teams are either upgrading their stadium or looking for a new one to call home.

In 2021, MLB reorganized its minor leagues into 120 teams, raised minor league salaries from 38 percent to 72 percent, and created different divisions for all levels of play, among other changes, according to reports.

It also raised the minimum standards for minor league ballparks, including having multiple batting cages, women’s locker rooms, larger clubhouses, upgraded offices, and ample storage space, the reports state.

“When all of this shakes out we will have a stadium that is not only a great place to play baseball but an environment that everyone can enjoy,” Leon said. “It will help revitalize our economy just like SoFi Stadium is helping Inglewood’s economy. The stadium will also be one more thing that makes Ontario ‘major league,’ along with the convention center, The Mills, and Toyota Arena.”

Ontario will be the Quakes’ fourth home if the team moves there.

The franchise, which is now owned and operated by Brett Sports & Entertainment Inc., started in Lodi in 1966 and moved to Ventura and San Bernardino before landing in Rancho Cucamonga in 1993. Since then, the team has won three California League championships and set several league attendance records, according to the Quakes’ website.

The memorandum of understanding states that the new stadium will have permanent seating for roughly 4,000 to 5,500 fans, and grass berm seating for 500 to 1,500 fans.

It will include concessions and merchandise sales, an outfield video board, and offices for at least 32 front office and staff members, among other amenities that will bring it up to major league standards.

The memorandum also specifies that the Quakes “will be the only outdoor professional sports team to be based at a city-owned or operated stadium within three miles of the sports complex,” and that the lease agreement between the two parties will be for 20 years with two five-year renewal options for the team.

Ontario is not trying to steal the Quakes from Rancho Cucamonga but instead is proposing a transaction the team might decide to accept, according to Leon.

“We’re asking them to make a business decision,” Leon said.”When the Raiders left Oakland and went to Las Vegas they made a business decision, and it’s the same thing here. Eventually, the Quakes will have to make a business decision.”