The city, the article states, is all but assured of landing the $15 million to $20 million baseball camp complex patterned after the original located south of Cooperstown in Hartwick Seminary.

Sixteen communities in nine other states have expressed interest in landing a second Dreams Park, but Dreams Park CEO Louis Presutti told Louisville officials that their city is ``on top of the list.’’

According to the article, Presutti said he would like to open the Louisville facility _ with 25 ballfields _ in 2009, a schedule he called "quite doable." He said he hoped to complete a deal by year’s end, although local officials still must come up with a viable site. He said he would provide the $15 million to $20 million to build the complex.

Louisville officials said the city also would probably have to pay for some related costs such as utilities and any road or access improvements to the site. They said the state, through the Kentucky Sports Authority, has agreed to consider yet-undecided financial incentives for the project.

Derrick Ramsey, the Kentucky Sports Authority executive director and state deputy commerce secretary, recently visited the original Dreams Park.

Getting a similar project in Louisville "would be absolutely awesome for the city and state," Ramsey told the Courier Journal. Although he declined to be specific about possible government incentives for the project, he said, "I can say with certainty that both the city and state will do all that is possible to make it happen."

Mayor Jerry Abramson said the camp "would be a big win for our city. It would add to our standing as a sports destination" and bring thousands of youths and their families to town every year.

Although the camp would run from early June through late August like the original, Presutti said activity would spill over into both spring and fall, with clinics and tournaments and use for local baseball-league play.

The Dreams Park did not respond to a request for comment.

The full text of the story can be found on the Courier Journal’s website www.courier-journal.com.