Why don’t the Nationals own and operate some of their minor league teams. This would eliminate some of these “local” problems. A number of teams in the Appalachian League, The Rome Braves in Sally League and Tampa Yankees in the Florida State League are owned and operated by their respective ML team. If these teams make a profit and if a team is going to invest millions of $$$ for players and their development, why not control the stadium, field conditions and admin functions. In addition, what a great way to use your farm system to train & develop administrative, marketing, field maintenance and other support personnel and to test new ideas or experiment with new things like types of grass seeds, drainage systems, etc.

The big part is there has to be a seller as well. I have no idea if the Suns ownership (a Vegas conglomerate) is willing to sell them.

From a fan’s perspective, I think Municipal Stadium is great. All the seats are close to the field. It’s small, cozy and comfortable. It’s a really neat old stadium.

From the player’s point of view, it probably isn’t the best. The foul territory is very small, there isn’t a lot of room for the on-deck circle. The field is in bad shape, though that is slated to get better with the infield improvements. The outfield also needs to be resurfaced, but that will be more expensive, and will take longer to get approved.

From a business point of view, Municipal Stadium is not good. There’s a lack of parking. The parking lot only holds about 2/3 capacity for the stadium, if that. Verizon lets the Suns use their parking lot of night games, and that gives them about 50 extra spaces. There’s some parking available on near by streets. Still, the parking situation at Municipal Stadium is not good. The stadium also can’t really be totally renovated without buying out the trucking depot (and I think they’d be willing to sell) behind the third base stands. There’s pretty much no room for any additional seating at the stadium. And at 4,600 seats, the stadium is small for the South Atlantic League. They could expand the seats down the first base line, but that would mean building into the parking lot, and exacerbating the parking problem.

Also a major, major problem for any ownership group is the stadium’s complete lack of any luxury suites. They have the picnic porch, where corporate groups can gather. But it’s difficult for the Suns’ management to sell corporate sponsorships when there’s Frederick just down the road, which has modern–if anti-septic and boring–stadium with luxury boxes. To their credit, the Suns have lots of corporate partners. Still, they’re pitching at a big disadvantage on that.

There is an old power plant that is kitty corner from the stadium. It’s long since closed, and it’s in disrepair. It screams Superfund site. If they built a parking lot there, and bought out the trucking company they could do something like they did in Lynchburg, and completely rebuild the stadium. That might get local support here.

The problem with other development plans has been where to put the stadium? There’s not a lot of other areas that could generate support other than the southwest side of town, where the stadium is.

All this said, the Suns are still profitable. Contributing factors include the city-owned power, which reduces their electric bill, the corporate sponsorships that they do get, the food and merchandise that they sell, and their average gate, which while not the best, is pretty good at about 2,250 per game.

Mandalay would sell the Suns. But the question is, to whom? There’s always the Harrisburg model, but I seriously doubt the city council here would purchase a baseball team, even a profitable one. They prefer to get behind downtown concerts. Perhaps a group of local business people, but I think Mandalay has probably already approached them by now, and nothing happened.

What happens to the future of the Suns is probably dependent on how valuable having a near-by Sally League affiliate is to the Nationals. Is the inconvenience of Municipal Stadium, its outdated structure (the press box is literally a trailer atop the main grandstand), and poor location outweighed by having all the organization’s players centrally located? Is there another city within a 100 mile radius of Washington that would like–and could support–a minor league baseball team?

The Nationals themselves are probably the only entity that would be interested in purchasing the Suns. And with the right approach, they could probably make drastic improvements to Municipal Stadium, and get at least some city help (note to anybody that tries: guarantee that you’d let the Little League local teams play there once a year; Hagerstown loves its Little League).

But, even if the Nationals purchase the Suns, there are other options. Charlestown, WV might be a good candidate–easy train ride from D.C., and an area that, thanks to gambling, is pretty flush with cash. And there’s always Lancaster, which has a good stadium, and an Atlantic League team that currently occupies it.

It will be interesting to see what happens. I personally hope that the city can find a way to modernize Municipal Stadium, and keep the Suns in Hagerstown.

The Nationals foothold in Northern Virginia is not the Pnats but the Washington Nationals. The home of the Pnats is Woodbridge which is only about 20 miles away from the new stadium!

But this is my best-case scenario:
AAA: Richmond (apparently they’re not on great terms with the Braves)
AA: keep them in Harrisburg
high A: Potomac
low A: Pulaski
Then keep the rookie/GCL teams in Florida.

But the Little League concept isn’t a bad one. If it’s a publicly financed stadium, it should be like a park on non-game dates. In other words, more than just the pro-team should get to use the field. That makes it a little easier for the politicians to support.

Still, I’m intrigued by the lease extension through 2009. It’s an interesting development, and I think a positive sign that the issue is being taken seriously by city, county, and regional leaders.

The Harrisburg Senators aren’t not going to become AAA. The only way for Harrisburg to get a AAA team is for a team/franchise to move from an existing city. That’s not very likely since there aren’t any other floundering AAA teams looking to sell. For example, Norfolk would have to sell their franchise before they can be left with no team. Harrisburg just can’t get moved to the International League without the International League losing a franchise, it doesn’t work this way.

And for the sake of this conversation, a city can’t lose a franchise if they have ownership. Affiliates may change every two years, but at the end of the current contract, Hagerstown is gauranteed a team as long as they have ownership. It’s getting more and more difficult to have new teams in new cities. Just remember, we have territorial rights (I believe 50 miles) here in Harrisburg with any team at the AA level or below. It means that no team can come within 50 miles of Norfolk at AAA or below and no team within 50 miles of Potomac High A and below.

We have two more years on our affiliate contract with the Nationals, and I’m personally hoping, we continue with them since they are geographically close. We’ve been with the Expos/Nats since 1991, so I don’t see why to make a change now.

TB

Indeed, but if there is one clear trend in minor-league baseball, it’s that setting up shop near the parent club is the way to go…

Lowell / Boston
Brooklyn / New York (N)
Staten Island / New York (A)
Frederick / Baltimore

etc. etc.

But the important thing is that you don’t want to abandon a presence in/near one of the fastest growing parts of the country. It’s attractive to the parent club and to the owner of the affiliate. I suspect mightily that once the sticker shock of the new ballpark sets in, there will be many folks looking for an affordable alternative, compounded by the utter lack of parking and piss-poor public transportation options.

I thought you can take the Metro to the new ballpark in D.C.? Am I mistaken?

Finally, I don’t what your referring to about Hagerstown is owned by the city. As far as I know, Hagerstown(Las Vegas group) and Harrisburg (Reindorf group) are privately owned.

I’m with you for keeping a Nats affiliate in No. Va. and building a new, AA-level stadium. I don’t much care as long as there’s some professional baseball to be had there continously, but preferably with the Nats.

The Pfitz is a relic from when you could get away with (Northern US) h.s.-quality baseball fields. And I sense you agree with me that the $5 seats in the new stadium will always be “sold out” (read: given away) and the $10 seats will be impossible to get except in person on game day.

None of that changes how bad the parking is. I’d love to be proven wrong on this, but I’m still not seeing anything that makes me think this will be better than RFK, which is horrible.

Heck, even in San Francisco (the complete model of a new stadium), I found 3 $10 seats to a game in the middle of a summer I spent there the year the park opened.

I think it’s a fallacy to assume the new park is going to be sold out for every game. Doubtful. I think they average 27,000, which is OK.

I’m not speaking of city ownership, I’m speaking of ownership period. If there is an owner for a city, that city can’t lose their team by an affiliation change. Of course owners can opt to move teams.

You say, why not just move the AAA affiliation from Norfolk to Harrisburg? Okay, where is the AA going to move within the Eastern League? What’s happening to the ownership group in Norfolk? If all they do is lose the Nationals affiliation, like they lost the Mets, they still get a AAA team.

Columbus is building a new stadium, they aren’t losing their franchise either.

A major league team simply signs a PDA with a minor league franchise, they don’t control where those teams move (unless they own them i.e. Springfield Cardinals).

We aren’t going to be AAA. We are in the Eastern League and that is likely not going to change. IF it was going to change, it would have happened when Ottawa was going to lose their franchise.

The ONLY way a current AAA city/franchise can lose having some AAA team is for that ownership to sell the franchise. Norfolk would have to be completely out of the baseball business for them to lose their AAA franchise.

You are confusing moving affiliations with moving teams. And when I refer to a team in a city, I’m not referring to a “city” owning the team.

Louis if you and I own the Norfolk franchise and the Nationals come to us in two years to say, we don’t want to be there any longer. Louis, we don’t lose being a AAA in the International League, we simply won’t be a Nationals affiliate any longer, just like what took place when they went from being the Mets to being the Orioles.

So far as I know, none of the teams in the International League are in trouble and thinking about leaving the International League which means Harrisburg is staying AA.

As for Hagerstown, there are always rumors about teams being moved, but with territorial rules, it makes it VERY difficult. For example, Mandalay owns the team in Erie and has been actively trying to move it for several years, but where is that team still at, Erie. There haven’t been many franchise moves in the past few years, it’s just getting harder and harder.

Louis, my email is tbyrom@senatorsbaseball.com and there are probably some links I can provide you that explains the PDA etc. better than I have here.

On the one hand, it kind of isn’t fair to ownership. But on the other, it’s hard to feel bad for a profitable venture.

I’ve read that low A franchises are valued at far less than the 15 million AAA teams go for. Heck, the Portland Beavers (AAA) went for $7 million last year. I think it’s probably more like $2-4 million for a team like the Suns, maybe less.