Real-Life 'Field of Dreams' Plan Prompts Dueling Lawsuits

A proposal to build ballparks on the site used in the 1989 movie has a plot twist out of left field.

In real life, Go the Distance Baseball LLC, a development company run by Denise and Mike Stillman with financial backing from Hall of Fame player Wade Boggs, is involved in a $38 million project to turn a 193-acre farm in Dyersville, Iowa, into a destination spot for youth baseball and softball athletes. Costner's character built one ballfield, but this project aims for 24 of them. And unlike in the movie, there's no mystic ballplayers coming from the bushes. This time, it's only lawyers.

On October 12, Go the Distance filed a lawsuit against the Residential & Agricultural Advisory Committee, a local coalition of neighbors trying to stop the project. The Stillmans are alleging tortious interference and defamation.

The Residential & Agricultural Advisory Committee was the first to a courtroom in an attempt to have the city's rezoning decision reconsidered. That attempt was denied last week.

But an appeal might threaten the Stillmans' hopes of closing on their deal by the end of the year, so the Stillmans have filed their own lawsuit in hopes of pushing the project forward.

Now, according to the Dyersville Commercial, that "Save our Town!" letter has become Exhibit “A” in support of allegations that RAAC is attempting to interfere with Ballpark Heaven plans, which include the deal with the Lansings, a $16.5 million sales tax rebate with Iowa and a $15 million Midwest Disaster Area Bond Allocation.
The Stillmans accuse townfolk of lying to their neighbors about what's happening and libeling them with defamatory statements.
It's almost as if Costner's neighbors had distributed pamphlets to stop his field of dreams because such an endeavor could attract "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and a bunch of gamblers. That would definitely have not been a happy ending.

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