Archives: Dec. 24-31, 2005
Ticket sales suspended for World Baseball Classic in Puerto Rico
Posted December 30, 2005
The promoter of the World Baseball Classic games in Puerto Rico says he’s suspending ticket sales to the event because of the uncertainly surrounding Cuba’s participation and whether first-round games will actually be held there. Baseball officials from Venezuela are proposing moving games from San Juan’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium to Venezuela in response to the Bush administration’s decision to bar Cuba from participating in the World Baseball Classic in March 2006. Overall, ticket sales to the event have been mixed: strips for the finals at Petco Park are sold out and only lawn seating is available at Cracker Jack Stadium, but prime seats are available for the games at Chase Field and Angel Stadium, while good seats remain for the games at Scottsdale Stadium. (Sales for the Tokyo games have not yet gone on sale.) One nasty side effect of the WBC: it could lessen attendance for spring-training games, as the Cubs and Mesa officials fear.
Richmond ballpark search hits rock bottom
Posted December 30, 2005
Michael Paul Williams slams a proposal by Richmond city officials to place a new ballpark for the Richmond Braves (Class AAA; International League) at the city’s Fulton Gas Works site, an old, unused industrial complex at the bottom of Church Hill in the eastern part of the city. That site is more than a mile from the freeway and not within walking distance of downtown, so there’s no associated development possible. With the entire Braves organization on the market and a proposal for a Shockoe Bottom ballpark seemingly dead, it looks like the R-Braves are destined to continue playing at The Diamond.
City of Edinburg vs Roadrunners heats up
Posted December 30, 2005
When the city of Edinburg terminated the lease held by the Edinburg Roadrunners (independent; Central Baseball League) lease at Edinburg Baseball Stadium last September, the reason given by the city was late lease payments. But there was another factor involved: the city was also looking at selling the ballpark to the independent United Baseball League. The lease the city signed with the new league gives the UBL an option to buy the ballpark for $5.31 million, the amount unpaid from of the original $6.6 million bond issue that financed the ballpark. The lawsuit filed by the Roadrunners says the city and the team had an understanding about late payments: the Roadrunners paid for cleanup and scoreboard upkeep in exchange for late payments. Also, at dispute is whether the city had the legal right to terminate the lease under Texas law. Proceedings begin on Jan. 9, and there are two outcomes: the Roadrunners lease will be upheld and the American Association will field a team at the ballpark for the 2007 season, or the United Baseball League will have a valid lease and begin play there this coming season.
Other cities wait on baseball
Posted December 30, 2005
As Washington, D.C. and MLB go back and forth over the final lease and funding for a new Washington Nationals ballpark, the Washington Times looks at the several cities seeking major-league baseball. Nothing in here regular readers of this site don’t already know: Las Vegas is a hot commodity, Portland has a partial funding package in place, and city officials in San Antonio have no interest in pursuing public funding of a ballpark. There’s really not a notion out there that the Nationals are in play; the Florida Marlins are most often mentioned as the team most likely to move, but don’t be surprised if the name of the Oakland A’s pops up again in the new year (or earlier, as is the case with the editorial calling for the team moving to Fremont). D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams still believes a deal can be worked out.
Baseball Notes
Posted December 30, 2005
Longtime Kinston Indians (Class A; Carolina League assistant general manager Shari Massengill will be named the team’s general manager today, ending a three-week process in which she was the only candidate interviewed, Indians president North Johnson confirmed Thursday. Massengill, a Kinston native who started with the club in 1995 as an office assistant, becomes the third female GM in the Carolina League in at least 21 years and the second in team history….The entire coaching staff of the Delmarva Shorebirds (Class A; Sally League) will return for 2006. Gary Kendall will be back for his second season in Salisbury. Kennie Steenstra and Kimera Bartee will be back for their second seasons as pitching coach and hitting instructor, respectively….
New site for Richmond Braves ballpark causes debate
Posted December 29, 2005
The Doug Wilder administration floated a trial balloon on placing a new ballpark for the Richmond Braves (Class AAA; International League) at the city’s Fulton Gas Works site, an old, unused industrial complex at the bottom of Church Hill in the eastern part of the city. That trial balloon didn’t fly: Braves fans want either a new ballpark in the Shockoe Bottom area or a renovated Diamond, while business owners in Shockoe Bottom (where the Braves and developer Global Development has proposed a new ballpark as part of a larger development) are disappointed the city isn’t pursuing a ballpark in their neighborhood. It would seem to be difficult for the Braves to make any sort of huge commitment to anything with the team and the entire Atlanta Braves organization being evaluated for a potential sale.
Who’s paying for this financial adviser, anyway?
Posted December 29, 2005
In our recent coverage of a proposed ballpark for Richland County, S.C., we noted the local newspaper was going to everything possible to kill the project. The latest editorial from the newspaper urges the Richland County Council to kill the project, saying it’s a risky venture, but provides no supporting arguments. The author seems to not understand the meaning of tax-increment financing: using the increased property taxes on a development to help finance the development. Tax-increment financing is a fairly standard development tool in this day and age, but Warren Bolton makes the same mistake in logic many ballpark opponents do: he assumes the increased tax revenues would be present even if the ballpark was not built. (An editorial makes the same specious argument: that tax dollars are being diverted from schools to the ballpark) That’s why these arguments are crafted to appeal to emotion and not to logic: when you look at them closely, they fall apart. The latest on the potential new home of the Columbus Catfish (Class A; Sally League) in this Columbia suburb: the council has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Village at Sandhill developer Alan Kahn and is now debating whether to hire a financial adviser to review the plan.
Dodgers, NFL had meetings regarding new stadium
Posted December 29, 2005
Some Los Angeles officials are upset the Los Angeles Dodgers had discussions with the NFL about placing a team at the Dodger Stadium site and redeveloping part of the acreage as a retail complex. The discussions didn’t go very far: the NFL informed the Dodgers that they were proceeding with negotiations for a renovated Coliseum and a new Anaheim stadium. Sure, the Dodgers had every right to pursue discussions (though, given the heavy commitment civic leaders have made toward a Coliseum redevelopment, it wasn’t very wise on a political level), and the NFL made clear they were committed to other venues.
No team on deck to replace Cardinals at Skylands Park
Posted December 29, 2005
It sounds like efforts to bring an independent Can-Am Association team to Skylands Park, the former home of the New Jersey Cardinals (short season; NY-Penn League), have totally collapsed, leaving Sussex County without professional baseball this coming season. There are several options available for this privately owned ballpark: expand the facility in hopes of landing an Eastern League team, work for another affiliated team for 2007, work out a deal for a Can-Am Association or Atlantic League team for 2007, wait and see how a new nearby mall shakes out, or sell the facility.
Las Vegas: A chip in the game
Posted December 29, 2005
As the Oakland A’s, Florida Marlins and Minnesota Twins seek new ballparks, there’s one additional bond between the teams: they’re all mentioned as possibly moving someday to Las Vegas. This article looks at Mayor Oscar Goodman’s quest for a major-league team, and the long odds he faces in that quest: there’s no ballpark, there’s no financing plan for a ballpark, there are some questions about Las Vegas’s market size, and there are concerns about gambling being a temptation for players. All of these issues are addressed here, and Las Vegas has one intangible; it’s a hot commodity. Placing a team in Vegas would do more to raise baseball’s national and international profile than placing a team in Portland.
Phillies farewell an opportunity
Posted December 29, 2005
The announcement that the Philadelphia Phillies would be switching their Class AAA affiliation from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons (Class AAA; International League) to a new Allentown team in 2007 wasn’t a surprise to many in the baseball world, and certainly not to the Red Barons front office. The argument in this editorial is that this gives the Red Barons a great chance for a fresh start. While there are several teams whose Class AAA affiliations are up for renewal at the end of the 2006 season, it’s not realistic to think the Red Sox will abandon Pawtucket or the Yankees will leave Columbus for an aging facility with artificial turf. The most likely parent team: the Baltimore Orioles or the Washington Nationals.
Ballpark deal puts D.C. council in lose-lose situation
Posted December 29, 2005
The Washington Times puts forward a pretty clear assessment of the Washington Nationals ballpark situation: the District is pretty much screwed. Under the terms of the original agreement to bring a new ballpark to Southeast Washington, the D.C. Council agreed to have a lease done by the end of the year. It won’t. MLB has the upper hand: the agreement proscribes arbitration as a solution to any disputes, and given that D.C. has not lived up to the original agreement, the outcome is a foregone conclusion. The key to finalizing a deal: the developers who have bet on the development of the area will put some political pressure on council members.
Venezuela proposes hosting part of World Baseball Classic
Posted December 28, 2005
Baseball officials from Venezuela are proposing moving games from San Juan’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium to Venezuela in response to the Bush administration’s decision to bar Cuba from participating in the World Baseball Classic in March 2006. The plan, as outlined by Edwin Zerpa, president of the government-run Venezuelan Baseball Federation, would move the Group C games (featuring Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Netherlands and Panama) to Venezuela, with the final round moved from San Diego’s Petco Park to Canada (presumably to Rogers Centre). This would allow Cuban participation in the tournament, but it would also cause untold grief for MLB officials. True, tickets for the San Juan games have not yet gone on sale. But tickets strips to the finals are sold out (though single-game tickets will be available next month), so a move of those games would be problematic at best.