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High Hopes?

Author	Comment
Wilson Zett	High Hopes?	Lead	[-]
Posts: 19 ( 7-Oct-09 20:11:52) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None This following is an article from the Pensacola News Journal reporting on the fall AA owners meeting... http://www.pnj.com/articl...as-high-hopes-for-league These comment are from Miles Wolff: "Q: What is the league's biggest goal for the next five years? A: We would like to be 16 teams, eight in the north (division), eight in the south (division). It would help for travel and geography. Our goal is to certainly grow the league with good owners and make sure the stadiums are good. But I think we already have good ownership. I like the ownership in this league. It's an ambitious goal, but it certainly can be done. Within five years, it's possible." ...Now, Miles Wolff has always struck me as one of the more reality based types in Indy baseball. Do you think he really believes this, or is it just the typical happy talk? Last Edited By: Wilson Zett 7-Oct-09 20:19:01. Edited 1 time.
nlfan		#1	[-]
Posts: 6637 ( 7-Oct-09 20:28:08) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	This is what all commissioners want: a 16-team league. NoL commish have been saying that for years (including all of those after Miles left). In a 5-yr time frame anything is "possible" though it's a lot harder in these economic times. I think Miles is sincere about that and there could be plans in place he's not sharing that could lead to that.
JohnU11		#2	[-]
Posts: 851 ( 9-Oct-09 00:25:33) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Yeah, but if my absurd theory that the Chicagoland Independent League is possible, it would seem that 3 western teams could be set free in a couple of years. Does that jive with anything at all?
Wilson Zett		#3	[-]
Posts: 20 (10-Oct-09 20:08:12) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	If putting together a 16 team league is something that is being actively worked on, (as opposed to being a suitably optimistic corporate goal) then the surrounding Indy leagues had better watch their collective backs. Wolff himself has stated several times in Baseball America that the good markets have been taken and the building boom is over. That leaves raiding and bone picking for an expansion minded conference, because the markets that are untapped at this point comprise the unwilling and/or the unable. I expect the Indy landscape to change remarkably in the next five years. Teams and conferences without solid, realistic ownership will fall by the wayside-and fast. Anyone who is highly leveraged at this point is toast. And John, I don't think your Chicagoland league is absurd at all. It makes sense on a lot of levels. But I wonder if the ownership groups could cooperate enough to make it happen. Your guy in Gary, maybe. The people in Rockford, not sure. Joliet and Schaumburg, don't think so.
JohnU11		#4	[-]
Posts: 854 (10-Oct-09 21:41:55) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Wilson: Salvi in Gary and Ehrenreich are co-conspirators in Zion. Salvi apparently helped negotiate the deal to get Rockford to jump. Ehrenreich is Schaumburg. Joliet remains the rub but what choice would they have ( unless they went to the FL.) That leaves one more ... and Crestwood sits there, with a ballpark and some connections to Greg Tagert. To grow that league inside the Metro Chicago area only requires owners and ballparks, which naturally Zion needs to produce eventually. Long-run, even that doesn't matter if the Chiland league truly can happen. The NoL (and Salvi et al) is expecting the Fielders to be Road Kill this year anyhow so the ballpark is in no rush. Point is: No new markets need to be explored or developed. The Metro Chicago area provides plenty. In fact, inside the framework, a road team (or two or three, or four) could literally exist forever. The longest road trip is 2 hours.
independentbaseball		#5	[-]
Posts: 2 ( 6-Nov-09 04:02:06) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Not knowing the psychology of the fan bases in the area 100-250 mile radius from Chicago, what are the concerns regarding overlap? Since the goal is to draw at least 3500+ fans (in-park, not announced), how passionate and loyal is each town in widely supporting teams that are close to each other? This is not a quasi-criticism! I just don't know the psychology of the residents in the area, so any education is welcomed. Also, since I have yet to attend a NL game, how much different is the fans' emotion when a team from near Chicago comes to visit another near-Chicago team (e.g. Joliet at the Flyers) versus when a non-Chicago-area team comes to the same stadium (e.g. Fargo at the Flyers)? Do the fans have any tendency to attend more Chicago-area-team vs. Chicago-area-team games, or is there no significant difference? Thanks in advance for your help and perspective. Matt http://www.IndependentBaseball.net http://www.IndependentBaseballAlumni.com
nlfan		#6	[-]
Posts: 6668 ( 6-Nov-09 06:01:11) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The old reasoning (from the Mid-90s) was that the Chicago Metroplex could easily/safely/theoretically/... support up to 5 minor league clubs. This was at a time when Kane County was the only minor league franchise in the Metro (Rockford doesn't count even though there are certainly commuters from there). Today the market is at/beyond that point with Kane County, Schaumburg, Joliet, Gary, Windy City, and now Lake County. For the NoL, it looks to me like LC is far enough away from Schaumburg to not be a major competitor and should draw from Wisconsin. The FL discussion of expansion between Schaumburg and Zion might, if it ever happened, lead to a problems but I think that stalled out. When it comes to emotions at a minor league game... that's often not even on the radar. Yes there are plenty of fans (like those reading this) who DO know the clubs playing and the league they're in, but the majority will always be families looking for an affordable fun on a summer night. At that point what will matter will be (a) COST and (b) quality of "family fun" for the money (of which a portion will be affected by the play on the field). I obviously can't speak for any of the current teams and conditions but I do remember how this played out in attendance in Schaumburg for several years. Mid-week numbers were always off; weekend games were packed. Today I think there are additional factors like having more fireworks nights which are a consistent added draw for families. If you look at the attendance figures you don't see any obvious impacts by the arrival of new teams. The only real trend is that RailCats numbers started to go up as more people got comfortable with the idea of going to Gary at all.
independentbaseball		#7	[-]
Posts: 4 (12-Nov-09 05:32:16) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Thank you for your explanation! Matt http://www.IndependentBaseball.net http://www.IndependentBaseballAlumni.com

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