Paterson adopts fee for Hinchliffe Stadium use
By: Joe Malinconico
Paterson Press
PATERSON - Private groups using Hinchliffe Stadium for their events will she o pay the city school district up to $7,500 in fees for a full day, under a decision made on December 10. [2025]
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The fees would apply only to organizations that want to use Hinchliffe on one of the 180 days per year reserved by the school district under the stadium's lease, officials said.
..... Hinchliffe's private operating group, which is led by Baye Adofo-Wilson, would still be able to collect fees from outside entities using the stadium on days not booked by the school district, which owns the stadium. Under a lease with the city that allowed for renovations to reopen the stadium, the school district get to use stadium for 180 days per year and the developer/operator gets to use it on other dates during the rest of year.
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The Hinchliffe fees plan was added to the Paterson Board of education's agenda at the last minute on December 10. [2025] The next morning, distinct officials said they did not yet have a written document reflecting what was voted upon.
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It was not immediately clear what impact, if any, the new fees would have on Hinchliffe's operations. School board members said local youth groups that include Paterson children would not be required to pay the fees at the 8,000-seat stadium.
..... "We're going to do what we should have been during all along," school board President Eddie Gonzalez said of the new fees.
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But Paterson's longest-serving school board member, Kenneth Simmons, said the fees vote was rushed without a comprehensive plan.
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"There's too many unknowns" Simmons said. "There was no reason for us to rush to get this done."
..... Simmons said he doubted any outside groups would pay the district $7,500 to sue Hinchliffe.
..... After being shut down for more than 25 years, the stadium reopens in 2023 as part of a $110 million project that also included a senior citizen apartment building, a 315-space parking garage and an new museum focusing on the historic ballpark.
Home to minor league teams
..... Originally touted as project that would benefit Paterson's youth, Hinchliffe became the home field for the New Jersey Jackals minor league baseball team and a semi-pro women's football squad. Next spring, a second-tier professional soccer team calling itself the Cosmos will start playing at Hinchliffe.
..... Meanwhile, this fall, Paterson's two high school football teams played a combined total of three games at Hinchliffe.
..... Mayor Andre Sayegh had led the effort to reopen Hinchliffe, which he has cited as one of the major achievements of his time in office. Sayegh even has expressed hopes that Major League Baseball will schedule one of its "field of Dreams" games there.
..... Paterson Press asked the Sayegh administraiton aobut teh school board's fee vote.
..... "The mayor acknowledges the board's authority to manage its facilities adn set policies it believes are in the best interest of Paterson students," said Sayegh's public information officer Diana Nunez.
Conflict between high school baseball and Cosmos?
..... The school board earlier this year [2025] released a calendar of the dates during the 2025-2026 year when it had reserved Hinchliffe. That schedule, for example, showed the district using Hinchliffe every day in October except for Sundays. The calendar was empty for all of December, January and February.
..... The schedule showed the school district resuming its use of Hinchliffe staring March 16, [2206 with track practice and John F. Kennedy High School baseball practice every day thorough April 30, [2026] except on Sundays.
..... But the soccer league in which the Cosmos will be playing starts its games on March 6. [2026] Individual team schedules have not been made public yet.
..... Paterson Press asked Gonzalez and Sayegh if the Cosmos should have to pay the $7,500 fee if they have a game on one of the March or April days already booked by the school district.
..... "If it's up to me, they're going to have to pay the fee,' Gonzalez said.
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Nunez responded on Sayegh's behalf.
..... "As for PPS's reserved dates and the Cosmos' season, those discussion are between the Board of Education and the Cosmos," Nunez said. "He's confident they'll be able to find a resolution that supports both the district's needs and the team's goals."