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Joliet Slammers on the market

Joliet SlammersAfter two years of losses, the owners of the Joliet Slammers (independent; Frontier League) put the team on the market and are negotiating with two prospective new ownership groups.

Alan Oremus of Steel City Baseball LLC, along with team president Bill Waliewski, decided to pull the plug on their ownership of the team after totaling the losses from this season. It’s no secret it took more to get the team up and running than anticipated in 2011 — Silver Cross Field was in fairly bad shape when the Slammers moved in, and improvements to the ballpark pretty much offset any rent owed in the first year of play — and with attendance remaining static in 2012, the losses were too much to bear.

So prospective new owners have been solicited. It doesn’t sound like there will be any major changes, according to Oremus, and the city will need to sign off on any new owners in order to transfer the Silver Cross Field agreement. (Technically, the city and the Slammers never signed a lease for the ballpark; they’re still working on the original memorandum of understanding reached when the Slammers were awarded the lease.)

The lesson here: it’s possible to do all the right things and still come up short.

RELATED STORIES: Indy ball apparently not good enough for JolietSlammers hit bumps in second season

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