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Like a baseball team plagued with curve balls and strikeouts, the players trying to salvage Winston-Salem’s new baseball stadium are ready to rally.

City leaders, banks and private investors will meet Friday to sign off on a more than $25 million finance package needed to pay for the massive cost-overruns and finish the stadium looming over Business 40 downtown.

Winston-Salem’s experience is a far cry from what happened five years ago here. Greensboro unwrapped its new, privately funded baseball stadium after a smooth and simple construction process involving no tax money.

Construction in Winston-Salem, managed by Samet Corp. of Greensboro, has been suspended for months, delaying the stadium’s opening until 2010.

The News & Record obtained a confidential list of the investors who have raised $3 million to help finish the project. They include business leaders, but only minimal charitable support.

In Greensboro, a major nonprofit paid the entire cost of NewBridge Bank Park.

These private investors are so essential, wrote investor J. Walter McDowell in a confidential e-mail to the others this week, that “without your support this project would fail.”

NewBridge, which opened in 2005, was built with $22 million from the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation.

Aside from early troubles of finding a site in Greensboro, and a challenge by those who opposed abandoning the city’s War Memorial Stadium on Yanceyville Street, building the stadium was smooth from the first proposal in 2002 to the first pitch in 2005.

One person familiar with Greensboro’s original deal suggested that, by contrast, Winston-Salem could write a manual on how to “screw up” a stadium project.

The stadium for the Winston-Salem Dash was projected to cost about $23 million and open this past spring.

But with construction well under way in late 2008, project developer Billy Prim announced plans to expand the stadium for at least $16 million.

Then, he ran out of money.

In June, he persuaded the city to add $15.7 million to its original loan of $12 million for the project.

McDowell, a retired senior executive with Wachovia, declined to confirm the investors.

He said they prefer to remain anonymous.

His confidential memo, sent Aug. 16, went to 13 investors, including Don Flow, chairman and chief executive of the Flow Cos. auto dealers; Paul Fulton, former president of Sara Lee; David Neill, owner of several car dealerships; and Ben Sutton, founder of ISP Sports.

“That’s the who’s who of Winston-Salem,” said E.S. “Jim” Melvin, who led the stadium effort in Greensboro. “I think it’s obvious that it’s a show of community support.”

In Greensboro, Melvin recruited 63 investors to buy the Greensboro Bats, later renamed the Grasshoppers. He worked out a swap with Guilford County to obtain the stadium’s land.

As president of the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation, Melvin persuaded the foundation to donate most of the money for the $22 million stadium.

“I knew the citizens of Greensboro would never vote to publicly finance a baseball stadium,” Melvin said.

As Winston-Salem now moves forward to complete its stadium, minor troubles persist.

The city created the Citizens Baseball Stadium Review Committee to monitor loan payments and stadium progress.

Earlier this week, a building contractor stepped down from the committee because he said he didn’t feel comfortable reviewing competitor Samet’s documents.

Another question is whether a committee member might be subject to a rule that bars members with investment interest in the stadium. Dan Barrett is a senior vice president at Sutton’s ISP. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Melvin said he hopes that Winston-Salem’s efforts eventually pay off.

“We wish them nothing but the best,” he said.

Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron@news-record.com