Along with its plan to essentially rebuild The Diamond, Opening Day Partners would like Richmond leaders to consider putting an independent-league franchise in the made-over facility.
Minor League Baseball franchises are affiliated with Major League Baseball organizations. Independent leagues, such as the Atlantic League, are not.
Opening Day Partners, which this week released its proposal for a $28 million transformation of The Diamond, owns three of the eight Atlantic League franchises with local partners, and operates a fourth. "The Atlantic League would love to make a presentation and show Richmond how much we want to be there," said Peter Kirk, chairman of ODP. He added that the Atlantic League will make an expansion team available to Richmond for next season.
Kirk said Opening Day Partners also welcomes the opportunity to transform The Diamond for a Minor League Baseball franchise.
The Class AA Eastern League, part of Minor League Baseball, pledged to Richmond one of its 12 franchises for next season. Local investors failed in a bid to buy the Connecticut Defenders for $15.4 million. Minor League Baseball oversees a potential franchise sale and/or relocation it hopes to finalize by Aug. 1.
Eastern League President Joe McEacharn promised a "tightly managed process." Representatives of Ryan-Sanders, a well-regarded ownership group, late last month visited Richmond to investigate the situation. Reid Ryan, the firm's president, said this week "because of baseball rules, we are not allowed to comment on the market. Everything has to go through the Eastern League."
Asked for an update, McEacharn this week said "I really can't give any specifics other than to say we are continuing to explore a number of different options."
Kirk, a former owner of Baltimore Orioles' affiliates, called the Atlantic League "equivalent to Triple-A hitting and fielding, Double-A pitching." Independent-league players are commonly signed by affiliated teams. Since the Atlantic League launched in 1998, more than 600 players with major-league experience have joined its teams, according to the league. This season, Carl Everett, Armando Benitez, Jay Gibbons, Esteban Yan and Preston Wilson are among the ex-big-leaguers.
Atlantic League franchises are in Bridgeport, Conn., Camden, N.J., Lancaster, Pa., Long Island, N.Y., Newark, N.J., Somerset, N.J., Southern Maryland (Waldorf) and York, Pa., and clubs usually have former big-leaguers as managers. This season, Gary Carter, Butch Hobson, Tim Raines, Sparky Lyle and Tommy John are managing.
Average Eastern League attendance this season is 4,146. Average Atlantic League attendance is 3,895. Kirk said locales involved with the Atlantic League find it features "great baseball, but also, quite frankly, the community gets a better financial deal with the Atlantic League."
If an ownership group pays $15 million for a franchise, for instance, in most cases that doesn't leave much for ownership to contribute to a new stadium, Kirk said. An Atlantic League expansion franchise would require approximately $7 million "to buy the franchise, set it up and do all of the things you have to do," Kirk said. "You have so much more [financial] room to work."
The Atlantic League is a scam, not a long term solution. Tipple A hitting, double A pitching????? What does that suppose to mean. Why would any player of triple A or double A caliber join an unaffiliated team by choice? That puts the player outside a Major League organization’s development system and gives them no clear path for career advancement. What it is a mix a players MLB team were never interested in to begin with or guys that have already washed out and are desperately trying to hold on to any kind of career. We’re not stupid, this market understands baseball. Richmond spent the last half of century being the top affiliate of two of the finest organizations in baseball, the Atlanta Braves and before that the New York Yankees. We watched many players go onto super stardom over the years, to replace that with an Atlantic League team stocked with nothing but washouts and rejects is unacceptable. Richmond deserves better
ReplyDeleteBait and switch…. ODP shows us a plan for a refurb of the Diamond and then tries to sell us an inferior product to put in it. If that’s the case, I’d rather the stadium be built in Chesterfield. At least they might work with MiLB.
ReplyDeleteOf course the cheap people of Richmond will probably say do it anyway, knowing they probably won’t go to any games to see a bunch of has-beens and never-weres play in indy ball. Can’t this city do anything right? Nope. No way.
The Atlantic League is a scam, not a long term solution. Tipple A hitting, double A pitching????? What does that suppose to mean. Why would any player of triple A or double A caliber join an unaffiliated team by choice? That puts the player outside a Major League organization’s development system and gives them no clear path for career advancement. What it is a mix a players MLB team were never interested in to begin with or guys that have already washed out and are desperately trying to hold on to any kind of career. We’re not stupid, this market understands baseball. Richmond spent the last half of century being the top affiliate of two of the finest organizations in baseball, the Atlanta Braves and before that the New York Yankees. We watched many players go onto super stardom over the years, to replace that with an Atlantic League team stocked with nothing but washouts and rejects is unacceptable. Richmond deserves better
ReplyDeletelet’s see here….a proposal at half the cost of the shockoe bottom proposal….by a company with experience in doing this….with many of the same retail features as the shockoe plan. Let the hating begin!
ReplyDeleteThe Independent League is a circus.
ReplyDeleteThere must be over 100 affiliated teams from Rookie ball to AAA. Now many other talented ballplayers are there left?
The Independent League is where washed up druggies like Darryl Strawberry go to work for minimum wage.
Bringing an Independent League team to town will permanently prevent Richmond ever from getting a legit AA or AAA franchise