There has been a change in ownership for the Lafayette Aviators (summer collegiate; Prospect League), as the club has been purchased by National Sports Services.
With this change, the Aviators will now be run by a group that includes National Sports Services CEO Bill Davidson. National Sports Services owns several teams, including the Wilmington Sharks (summer collegiate; Coastal Plain League), a club that was added to its portfolio last year.
This change gives the team’s ownership something of a local flavor, as the Indiana-based club will now have three Perdue graduates within its ownership group. The Aviators have been purchased from their original owner, the Milwaukee-based ROC Ventures. More from the Journal & Courier:
“It still doesn’t seem real,” said Bill Davidson, a Purdue graduate and the CEO of National Sports Services which manages several minor league franchises.
Davidson is one of three Purdue graduates in the team’s new ownership, which includes Brent Gutwein, the co-founder of Granite Student Living, and Stuart Gutwein, a Lafayette attorney….
“It was a quick, easy, mutual connection,” said Stuart Gutwein, when he heard that the team may be up for sale.
Since 2016, the Aviators have played their home games at Loeb Stadium. That facility originally opened in 1940, but is set to be demolished in 2019 and be reconstructed into a new ballpark that will host the Aviators and other events.