Sports editor -- Kinston, NC

Wonder if Greenville would be a possible destination, presuming ECU was willing to share its field (3,000 permanent seats, 2,000 on the berm in a pinch)?

 

Will vouch for Bryan Hanks. Very good guy who really cares about journalism.

 

Agreed

 

Um ... not that I'm aware of. There is a CPL franchise in Wilson and one down U.S. 70 in Morehead City. Not in Kinston. Shame ... Grainger Stadium was a nice little place ...

 

Then maybe they were only planning/hoping to get a franchise and it fell through. I know at one point talk was that Kinston would get a CPL team to replace the Indians, fitting since they had a team in the original CPL. That's what happened in Martinsville after their Appy League team left.

 

I think I can fill in some blanks (don't work there, but know the area and some people there) ... it's a family-owned paper that recently underwent an upper management shakeup (editor was either fired or resigned; my sources there aren't quite sure which) and the sports editor/managing editor was promoted to take the spot ... instead of hiring a sports editor, they're going the cheap route and keeping the ex-SE/ME technically in charge and hiring a sports writer instead ... don't let the wording of the ad bother you; they've historically done that, only to hire people right out of college or with a year's experience at a weekly ... this is a twice-weekly paper the last time I checked, covering four public high schools and a charter school, plus the standard rec stuff ... two of the public schools have won state titles in football and are perennial playoff contenders in other sports, and the charter school's athletic program is developing into a contender as well ...

 

That's what happened to Martinsville. Not aware that the CPL is going to Kinston, though put nothing above Pete Bock. I'm sure if he thinks Grainger Stadium, Kinston and Lenoir County can support a market, it's up for consideration.

It was sad when the K-Tribe left for Zebulon to become the Carolina Mudcats (franchise and Five County Stadium were already established before the Indians moved). I grew up about 30 miles west, and a bigger place than Kinston, yet the latter had the minor-league team for decades.

Not likely. But if ECU didn't want to play ball - so to speak - someone affiliated with Greenville or Pitt County could look into doing some work on Guy Smith Stadium and see if the seating capacity is adequate for the Coastal Plain League.

 

Last year's CPL attendance averages were generally in the 1,000-2,000 range. 750-ish was the floor (Edenton), 2,200 was the ceiling (Fayetteville). Based on the photos I'm seeing of it, it probably wouldn't take much work if any to get up to CPL standards.

 

Fayetteville always seemed like it was too big not to have a minor league club and geographically fit with the Carolina and Sally Leagues, but I guess if the CPL draws that well there's now call for it.

Talking about Greenville, do any colleges lease their stadium to a minor league team that plays in the spring? I can think of a few independent league teams and short-season clubs that play in college stadiums. The Dash and Wake Forest play in the same park in Winston-Salem, but I think that's a city owned stadium that Wake uses.

 

I think the Dash moved to a downtown park in W-S and Wake now owns that ballpark. It may also have a new name, too.

 

The GreenEville Astros Rookie League Team and Tusculum College share a stadium. I don't know who owns it.

 

The Orem Owlz play at Utah Valley State, which at least a few years ago was an issue because they weren't allowed to sell alcohol (albeit less of an issue than it would be for a minor league team in any other state). Not sure if they've found a way around that yet, but I'm fairly certain the school owns that park.