It seems time to admit that the New York-Penn League’s Batavia Muckdogs aren’t going to draw enough fans to survive.
Deep in six-digit debt two years ago, local ownership brought in the successful management team from the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings in a noble attempt to breathe some life back into the founding member of the league back in 1939.
Last season, the parent St. Louis Cardinals more than did their part, providing the players and coaches that brought the town exciting, winning baseball, culminating in their first NY-Penn championship since 1963.
While the result of the field was good, the result on the books was just the opposite – a quarter of a million dollar loss was absorbed by the Red Wings for 2008 operations of the Muckdogs franchise.
Here in 2009, the situation seems to be deteriorating. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle ran a somber news item on Tuesday, likely with information sourced from a member of the Rochester Community Baseball organization. The message is that RCB has not yet decided their future involvement with the money-losing Muckdogs following this season, at least publicly.
Though it was in the sports section, not with the obituaries, the end seems near.
Despite coming off their championship season, the Muckdogs are averaging only 988 fans over their first 29 home games here in 2009. That ranks them 13th in the 14-team NY-Penn League, a league in which the average attendance is three-and-a-half times higher, 3,616. That average rises to 3,818 if Batavia is excluded.
The 988 average attendance figure is down from 1,199 last year and 1,230 in 2007, reports the Democrat and Chronicle. In what seems more like gallows humor than anything, The Batavian labeled the Rochester report “idle speculation” and gamely observes that the 2009 figure is not apples and oranges since it reflects the actual attendance, not an inflated figure as in past years.
No matter how you cut it, the signals are bad.
What clinched the deal for me was a line in the Rochester news article that Rochester Community Baseball will receive 10 percent of the proceeds if the Muckdogs are sold. I had not seen that factoid before, but its inclusion brings the situation into focus.
Let’s do the simple math.
How many years of losing $250,000 per year can be covered by a 10 percent stake of a franchise likely worth in the range of $3 million to $5 million?
Two years times $250,000 equals a half-million dollars lost. Ten percent of $5 million is half-a-million dollars gain. Hmmm…
Rochester Community Baseball did not sign up to run the Batavia Muckdogs as a charity exercise. Assuming they can see no end to the continued flow of red ink, as intelligent businesspeople, what choice would they have other than to cut their losses?
If RCB cannot succeed running the team and the locals already failed in their attempts, who else would see any potential in coming in to make a third try in 2010 and beyond?
The logical and obvious conclusion, as painful as it is for the Batavia faithful, is the sale and relocation of the Muckdogs.
If that happens, the Cardinals affiliation would move with the team. St. Louis is contractually committed to the Muckdogs franchise via their Player Development Contract that runs through the 2010 season.
If Batavia fans want to ensure they catch their team in action, time is running out. The club has only nine home dates remaining in the 2009 season. Beyond that, we shall see.
Batavia had a population of 16,000 in the 2000 census. Its a small population for sustaining a team. The rececession cannot help. AAA ball can be found in the much larger western NY cities of Buffalo and Rochester.
If another NY-Pa location cannot be found, then a possible option would be to use Johnson City alone for introducing collegiates to pro ball, as done this year with Stock.
The Cardinals have a contract with the Batavia franchise for next season. The franchise would not fold given its seven-figure value. It would be sold and relocated. I would be very surprised if the Cards are not competing somewhere in the NY-P (plus VT and MD and anywhere else they decide to add) next season.
The NYPa has 14 teams, the Northwest League has 8. So there are 22 teams at this level. Not every team has an affiliate at this level.
One way that some ML teams do without at team at this level is to have their highest short season affiliate operate in the Appalachian League. Thus, one option for the Cards to consider is to use their Johnson City franchise in this role. If the Cards want to keep 3 short season squads, they could add a second GCL squad to supplement Johnson City. I am not making a prediction, just identifying this as an option.
Why? It seems not easy finding good new locations for NYPa franchises. We were in Augusta NJ, jumped to a new stadium at State College PA, and were then orphaned when State College preferred to affiliate with the Pirates, so we had to settle for Batavia. No other team wanted to be in Batavia, so the location was available.
We were once in Hamilton, Ontario, not far from Toronto. The NYPa league lacks Canadian affiliates nowadays. If a ballpark could be found in acceptable condition, Canada might offer the best location for attendence. Another option would be to look for a Canadian ballpark for relocating the Batavia franchise.
The Minnesota Twins are an example of a MLB team that does not have a NYPa or Northwest affiliate. The Twins have made the Appalachian League team their entry level for collegiate talent. This has enabled the Elizabeton to be a Appie League power, because its players tend to be older and more experienced. The Twins are located next door to Johnson City and have been there since 1974, IIRC.
Just to be clear, the Cards are not the ones who will be looking this winter – unless the Batavia franchise folds instead of being sold. Because of its value, the franchise would surely not be folded.
The Cards have a contact for 2010 with the ownership of the team that is now in Batavia. Where it moves next year, if it moves, the Cards are bound by contract to follow. The NY-P League would have to approve the sale first, which is how the check that the facilities are adequate would be made.
Dropping teams or adding them in other leagues is not relevant for the Cards in 2010. All Player Development Contracts across baseball come up every other year. This is the off year.
You cited one example of this yourself when the ownership in NJ sold their NY-P franchise to the Pirates-aligned group prior to the 2006 season. There was one year remaining in the PDC with the Cardinals so the Pirates-affiliated owners of the new State College Spikes and the Cards had to spend one year in marriage even though the one side for sure did not want to. As soon as the deal expired after the 2006 season, the Cards were booted out.
Yes, the Cards are contractually bound to provide players next season to the NYPa franchise now operating in Batavia. The Cards will be freed from this obligation after 2010 and can do what looks to be best for them thereafter. Whereas they have long had stabillity with Johnson City, they have moved from town to town within the NYPa league.
Right now, the Muck Dogs are a consistent money loser since located in tiny Batavia. The sales value of the franchise is premised on the idea that it can be relocated to a larger town with a suitable ballpark now empty. It will be interesting to see what sort of solution for 2010 that the franchise ownership arrives at.
Most of the loss that the Red Wings had the first year operating the Muckdogs was to pay off debt. That debt was created by the previous management of the Muckdogs over several years of poor management. The city of Batavia was involved in running the operations at Dwyer stadium. Government isn’t in the sports/entertaining business and never should be at all. The amount the Red Wings had to pay was a one time pay off and shouldn’t be looked at as what the team will lose every season. Yes there are many factors in keeping a team in market and making a profit. The Red Wings new that the first season would be a loss no matter what, given the debt load they took over. Management of the Red Wings made many changes after the first season. I hope many more changes will occur during this coming offseason and Batavia will finally start climbing back and sustaining its team. Advertising, Promotions and plain knocking on local and regional business doors needs to be done. Yes were a small market, but we have survived for seventy years! You can’t fix ten years of mis-management over night. It will take a few seasons. I hope the Red Wings are true to their word in trying to keep baseball in Batavia. I feel they are doing just that! They are a great organization! Yes they will break even or profit if the team is sold in the future. That isn’t why they stepped in to help. They are committed to keeping the team here where it belongs, the birthplace of the PONY and NY-Penn league!!!
Hope your community can hold on to its team, good luck. It may not be realistic to think that making a profit isn’t why they (present owners) stepped in “to help”. They are a business after all, and their first responsibility is to the stockholders or whoever owns them. Maybe the Cards could help out by sending some bobble-heads to hand out, those are popular promos here in St. Louis.
Thank you blingboy! I really think that we can hold onto our team and keep them right here. Every business is in it to make money. The Red Wings CEO Naomi Silver is a special person. Her father saved the Red Wings years ago and kept them from moving. I know they arent in the business of losing money, but they knew going into this that it would take a few years to turn things around. They stepped in right before the 2008 season started and didn’t have much time to do anything. We ended up winning our first championship with some great Card prospects! Im personally disappointed how the team approached this 2009 season and hope that they will take a different approach for 2010. I will be doing whatever it takes to sell season tickets, advertising and promoting our team. It will all be volunteer work, but who would fight harder for their team then the fans? Thanks blingboy and enjoy some of our great former Muckdogs! Im a host family for five years now and have enjoyed time with many of your future Cardinals!
JumboShrimp,
The Cardinals did not “settle” for Batavia and before the 2007 season, Batavia was approached by the Nationals and the Cardinals. Both teams wanted to come to Batavia, and the owners of the Batavia franchise chose the Cardinals.
Major league affiliates rank Batavia is an outstanding place to develop 21 & 22 year old players. One of the main reasons for this is in small towns there are less distractions.
The Batavia franchise will not be moving before the 2010 season.
In my opinion, two other NY-P League teams will be moving before Batavia. They are the Oneonta and Jamestown franchises. They will probably not be moving to Ontario, but more like east to New Jersey or New Haven Ct.