There’s no denying Kelly Automotive Park is a gem. The question is whether Butler’s municipal baseball park can turn a profit, or at least pay for itself.

That’s problematic: The park is ideal for baseball but less so for concerts and other sporting events like football, soccer or lacrosse. The park is $243,000 in debt with limited options to raise cash for its creditors.

The park is owned and operated by the city of Butler Parks, Recreation Grounds and Facilities Authority. It’s home to the Butler BlueSox, a Prospect League team for college baseball players.

The BlueSox play just 30 home games per season at the 1,200-seat park. If they managed to sell every seat for every home game, at a median admission price of $7, the BlueSox would generate about $250,000 for the entire season — barely enough to cover the ballpark’s debt — and of course, this isn’t taking into account the day-to-day expenses and the cost of travel to away games.

Simply put, there’s not enough revenue generated to cover the baseball team and the ballpark. The BlueSox exist because volunteers and owners work for the love of the game; generous local families open their homes to out-of-town players; and commercial sponsors pay essential revenue.

The ballpark’s financial distress makes its fate unpredictable. It is $27,000 behind on its mortgage payments to Dollar Bank, which leads a group of five banks holding the mortgage on the 80-year-old park. The banks probably would hesitate to foreclose. They don’t want to be in the business of managing ballparks, and closing Kelly Automotive Park would not be a good thing for anybody.

And then there’s the naming rights. Kelly Automotive is paying $30,000 a year for this and the next four seasons for the right to rename the former Pullman Park. Even with the new money, officials estimate the park will still lose about $40,000 this year.

Perhaps the authority asked too little for the naming rights; and Kelly Automotive now has its brand affixed to a floundering business operation.

Ed Codi, chairman of the authority board, said the authority will rent the park to any interested promoters of concerts and other suitable events. Codi said the park comes with a $2,500 up-front rental fee for large events.

Such events do exist. Cooperstown, N.Y.’s venerable Doubleday Field hosts a highly successful annual giant pumpkin festival, rain or shine.

Meanwhile, if baseball is the park’s primary attraction, then perhaps the authority should expand the scope of baseball operations there.

Perhaps the city could pursue grant money, buy up property adjacent to the park and install three more baseball fields. This would enable regional baseball tournaments, complete with overnight visitors to stay in local hotels, eat at local restaurants and shop at local sporting goods and other retail stores.

That also falls within the mission of the Parks, Recreation Grounds and Facilities Authority, whose board members should have little difficulty envisioning improvements around the park’s perimeter.

The alternative is an increase in the recreational tax rate. That’s not the best option.