Despite a healthy number of Minor League Baseball teams on the market, we’re not seeing many franchise sales these days. Why are things moving so slowly? We asked around — to owners, potential owners and brokers — to see why potentially attractive franchises openly and discreetly on the market were still for sale. Some of […]
Tag Archives | tucson padres
El Paso group seeking downtown ballpark, T-Padres
An El Paso investment group is looking at building a privately financed ballpark in downtown El Paso and buying the Tucson Padres (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) for relocation. The group, as outlined in today’s El Paso Times, would be taking advantage of Escondido, Cal., to close on funding for a new ballpark after the […]
Court ruling clarifies San Jose, Escondido ballpark statuses
With the California Supreme Court ruling yesterday that the state can indeed eliminate city and county redevelopment agencies, the fate of new ballparks in Escondido and the Bay Area became clearer. The California Supreme Court not only ruled that the state can eliminate redevelopment agencies — and recapture locally generated revenues in the process — […]
Hawks GM: Boise can’t support Triple-A ball
Talk of bringing a Pacific Coast League team to Boise is a bad idea, says Boise Hawks (short season A; Northwest League) President/GM Todd Rahr: the market is limited, there’s little corporate support and the airport sucks. But hey, otherwise it’s a great place to do business! Rahr is walking a tightrope, of course; while […]
Toros settle suit; will go gently into that good night
The Tucson Toros (independent; North American League) are going away after settling a lawsuit — on fairly favorable terms — over an eviction from Hi Corbett Field. Toros owner Jay Zucker settled with the city for $300,000 and announced he was folding the franchise, according to KOLD. He filed suit earlier this year, saying Tucson […]
Moorad to Escondido: We need quick deal on ballpark
Because he may conditionally sell the Tucson Padres (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League), owner Jeff Moorad is demanding a commitment from Escondido to build a $50M ballpark — with no funding assured. As you’ll recall, the city backed away from the idea of public financing of a new ballpark for Moorad, also the owner of […]
Crunching the 2011 Minor League Baseball attendance figures
Now that we’ve published 2011 attendance figures for Minor League Baseball in several different forms, it’s time to look beyond the stark figures and try to make some sense of the past year in affiliated ball. First: the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Class AAA; International League) led the minor leagues both in total attendance and per-game […]
T-Padres to stay at Kino Stadium for 2012
Despite talk about a move to Hi Corbett Field to make way for MLS training camp, the Tucson Padres (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) will play at Kino Stadium for the 2012 season. “We are pleased to have this deal completed before the season ended,” said Tucson Padres Vice President and General Manager Mike Feder. […]
Obstacles to new ballparks in California: not as bleak as expected
When Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law abolishing California’s redevelopment agencies, many in baseball assumed public financing of ballparks was a thing of the past. Turns out the news may not be so terrible — but the circumstances are still troublesome. Tax-increment financing is a tried-and-true economic-development tool, and it’s occasionally used to build ballparks. […]
The Week That Was: July 24
More fireworks from the independent North American League, possible ballpark changes in Tucson and debates over the future of Tropicana Field highlighted the most popular stories of the past week on Ballpark Digest, as measured by page views. Fielders’ Zaman quits on the air Tucson revoking Toros lease for Hi Corbett; Wildcats, T-Padres to follow? […]
Tucson revoking Toros lease for Hi Corbett; Wildcats, T-Padres to follow?
Tucson is in the midst of revoking the Hi Corbett Field lease from the Tucson Toros (independent; North American League), as the city and Pima County look at big changes at where baseball teams play. The Toros played two seasons in the North American League before going on hiatus when the Tucson Padres (Class AAA; […]
Escondido moving forward with business park on proposed ballpark property
The prospects for a proposed new ballpark in Escondido for the Tucson Padres (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) are growing dimmer by the day, as the city is moving forward with planning of a clean-tech-oriented business park on the ballpark site. At the end of the day, having a clean-tech business hub on the 27 […]
City, not Moorad group, to acquire Escondido land
A 4.5-acre plot of land targeted by Tucson Padres (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) owner Jeff Moorad for development adjacent to a new Escondido ballpark will instead be acquired by the city and could be used as part of a high-tech business park should ballpark plans fall through. Moorad’s reps had negotiated a purchase of […]