in the winter of 1994, frank burke bought the lookouts. years later he would say, "finding engel stadium was a bit like falling in love: initially, you don't see some of the downsides." the downside was that engel stadium was becoming so costly to keep up that he could not turn a profit. by 1998, the situation got so severe that burke agreed to fund a new ballpark on top of hawk hill, so long as he could sell 1,800 season tickets and 10 luxury boxes for his new park by february 4, 1999. burke met his goal a week early and the lookouts played their last game at engel stadium on september 10, 1999.