MLB to Small Town America: Drop Dead

Yeah, who could have seen this coming when a Summer-A league got bumped up to a full-season league and shared a park with a college team.

 

But that's kind of a one-off deal caused by the fact that MiLB started late because of COVID. Had they run the usual schedule that ended around Labor Day it wouldn't be an issue.

 

I don't see the Emeralds remaining in Eugene much longer. Under MLBs new MILB facilities mandates, they won't be able share the stadium with UO past the years they've been grandfathered (2024 or 2025). It will be almost impossible to find $30-50 million (or whatever) to build an Emeralds-only stadium in the area.

My guess is, they end up back Salem, where there's an existing stadium that probably only needs about $5 million in upgrades, plus another $5 million or so to buy out the lease from the former owner of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. He got a 99-year lease on the stadium about 20 years ago when the old Yakima NWL team moved there. S-K got squeezed out in the contraction, mostly because of bad ownership. The Giants were in S-K for years before moving down to Eugene after the contraction.

 

It's great how the Taj Mahal facility demands of MLB are now just presented as absolute necessities.

In real life there's no reason a minor league team and a college team couldn't share a field -- schedule conflicts could be worked out -- but MLB demands all minor league franchises must have utter control over their field (just as they do at the major league levels).

Why must the minor league franchises have absolute control over the fields? Because they must. It's the duty of the taxpayers to comply.

 

That's too bad. Eugene is a pretty cool city, and a minor league team is a perfect pastime for the summer months when most of the university is on break. That said, Salem would be a good alternative if it comes to that. I've driven by the ballpark there (it's right next to I-5) on my way to Washington and it looks like a nice place.

 

With the way things are now, if towns are smart, they refuse to build any stadiums unless there’s a clause in the contract making MLB reimburse them if a franchise affiliation is pulled for any reason.

Otherwise, they’ll be shelling out millions for their local wood bat league team.

 

I am surprised there was not more legal action in the face of the contraction.

 

Meh - Sports stadiums are popular with voters and thus politicians. Too many people still think it's the path to economic revival, when really, you're better off spending the cash on almost any other kind of economic development. There is always going to be a Worcester, Mass.-esque city willing to pay $75M (and counting) because they think a pro sports team will establish them as a "real" city.

 

Worcester won't be a real city till it starts pronouncing its r's ... and Kevin shuts the f--k up.

 

I remember UF playing Worcester State in baseball, and their SID calling it "Woosta." Huh? And they say Southern accents sound stupid.

 

I’m assuming someone at MLB shoved that move to Worcester along because Pawtucket/Providence wasn’t “big” enough. The stadium financing was secondary.

 

Any city council that puts money into a minor league ball park after what seeing MLB just did are complete chumps. Even if the owner is willing to sign a lease MLB can arbitrarily take away the franchise so the city has ne legal protection. There are cites that put millions into the minor league ball park and now have a white elephant.

In this case Salem, which is not that big a town, is supposed to come up with 10 million. What guarantees will they have?