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Ah I found something for you caretaker.
Here is a football/soccer/baseball stadium in Victoria BC.
This is what I was reffering to when I said that you can use football stadiums and make them for baseball as well.
The seats in the northside are only temporary, while the south seats are permanent
The name of this stadium is Royal Athletic Park.
Such a idea can be used for any football stadium and all you have to do is simply alter the layout.

http://www.victoriasoc.com/common/pages/directions-rap.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Athletic_Park

And here is their baseball team

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Capitals

So as you can see, using this as a example, most cities can house a Northern League team providing that they have a stadium large enough to support the minimum required attendace.

Grand Forks could also play out of The Fighting SIoux outdoor football stadium ( with some alterations of course) or even their other outdoor football/track and feild stadiums would be big enough.

Those are some great answers so allow me to reply to each of them. And bare with me, I dont know how to quote just yet.


As for the locations...

Grand Forks is too small and no real facility. Yes the location is great on the map but that means nothing. It has hosted minor and indy ball in the modern era and failed.

Toon town -- which we've throttled to death over the years -- is far more likely to join the AB clubs in the GBL than the NoL. Over the past two years it was more closely connected to the AB clubs and they're gone. The facility was sub-par for the NoL and no one --in spite of active public discussion there-- was really seriously acting on it last year (during the exhibition games played there).

-Grand forks was used as a example. But this time I think Grand Forks could still be a possibility because it would have 2 major rivalries. Winnipeg and expecially Fargo. The Greater Grand forks area does have close to the 100 000 population needed. And who says you can make the Sioux Stadium into a great Ball Park?

Reiterating the basics...

Population

NoL communities need to have a minimum population of 100K to realistically support the club with about 2.5K/gm to break even. Both of those reflect numbers from over a decade ago and realistically both need to be significantly larger (150K and 3K/gm). And that all the more important since the schedule today is much longer than it was in '93 (96 vs. 72 games)

-True, I can agree with you someone on this. But keep in mind the larger the city, the more alternative forms of entertainment there is.

Facility

The NoL does have some fairly high facility standards today. All six clubs play in (what were) brand new ballparks; prior to the split in 2005 only StP and Calgary did not have facilities built in the '90's or later. The league may be more flexible in what it might accept but it's unlike to go to back to the old standards it had when it began --most of which have been taken up by the NWL which can make profits in them (with lower costs).

Beyond the league's own standards, the effect applies to fan expectations. It's a lot harder to get people to pay $8-10 a seat to watch indy ball in an sub-par ballpark not intended for professional baseball at the NoL's level. When the league started 15 years ago it was all an experiment, costs were all lower as were expectations. Today there's a large amount of direct competition with numerous leagues for facilities and talent (both on the field and in the front office).

-This one is not really a fare standard because we have to remember that "is just the Northern League". Winnipeg went far above the NL expectations building a ball park that meets all of the AAA requirments. That of course were the Pan Am Games. Yes it paid off for Winnipeg, but if these high stadium expectations are required, then I cant see any new city joining anytime soon. See from my point of view, as long as the feild meets all expectations then the stadium really only needs to seat the 3000 needed. Many football/baseball multi purpose stadiums can offer you a great view of the game. Take the Pan Am Games for example. Temporary stadiums pop up everywhere and it met all the standards for the game, the fans, and the millions of people watching.

Ownership

That competition and recent problems are not helping the league's image with prospective investors. I'm sure they have "good friends" willing to step up if the right deal is in place, but if they're serious businessmen and do real "due diligence" they're not likely going to take any unnecessary risk in a time when gas prices are spiking and there's talk of a recession (which could do a lot to hurt club revenues).

-I can agree with you here as well but at the same time the NL should also change with the times to keep things flowing smoothly.
Having a expansion fee of 1.2 million dollars is way to high for a minor pro team. Spend a little more money and you could get a CFL team,lol
Its great to see the league grow, but over the years I think it went from 14 teams to 6. And if fans are getting tired of seeing the same teams play each other all the time, then something has to be done.

Look south...

The league's interest will tend to focus around KCK where there are/were viable locations (St. Joe, Wichita, Topeka, KCMO) that might pair up that club and help moderate transportation costs. The fact is geographically the NoL has few directions to look but south since no one is minting new cities in the upper midwest.

-Yes I think I can agree with you 100% on this. Plus Regina. If Regina can love their Riders, I think they would love NL ball.

Thanks for the welcome NLFAN.

I will say that its great to be here.


But my point is that with the right plan you can make a old stadium turn into a great stadium that meets all the standards in time.

I will once again use the CFL as a example. I will assume that you know about the Montreal CFL franchise.
They went from the Giant Big O to a small run down 19 000 seat Molson Stadium.
No one thought that it would work. But in phases, and phases are continuing, Molson stadium has slowly been rebuilt, made larger, and will have a additional 5000 extra seats as they continue to add more phases.

That is where I was going with the football/baseball multi-use feild.
I am a firm beleaver that you dont need a state of the art stadium like Can - West Global park in Winnipeg.
Not at first anyway.

I beleave that a new city with a football stadium perhaps the size of Bison Stadium at the U of M would be a good start for the first year of play.
Alter it a bit with added seating in a Party Zone with a beer gardens and that would be great for the first year.
If it has a successful first year, then the owner of the team can work out a public/private deal that could expand and advance the stadium in phases over time providing the team continues to be successful.
Even the Gold Eyes had their stadium build in phases. It was origionally smaller if you recall.

A new francise can survive in a new city providing that it has time to grow without a large overhead.
That is exactly how the Goldeyes made it big in Winnipeg. Football stadium, Smaller Baseball stadium, then larger baseball stadium.
I am all for turning a no longer used football stadium into a successful baseball stadium in phases.
Now dont get me wrong, I am not looking for a cheap alternative. I am all for stadiums meeting AAA requirments just like Winnipegs if possible.
I just want to see less red tape and more financial success for teams just starting out in the Northern League.

By the way you run a great site NLFAN

Ok fair enough.
NFL /MLB Oakland is a football/baseball stadium. And there are still a few.
But I get your points.


You mentioned St Joe as one of the possible locations. There stadium looks below standards in comparision to some of my ideas.
Wichita's looks great though.

Is there anywhere on your site where I can find the minimum requirments needed to start a Northern League team?
One that would include everything from start up costs, population, stadium requirments, ect.
I discuss these things with a radio personality and wouldn't mind bringing up Regina.

You know NLfan, st joe does not look that bad from the link you gave me.
Seating 3600 fans should be good enough. They can always bring in portable bleachers if they want too.