Affiliate Reshuffle?

[spinowner]

 

Bringing a minor league team, especially a AAA team, to Minnesota is one of those great white whales that people love to talk about, but just is never going to happen.

 

St. Paul's new stadium isn't up to AAA standards, and realistically, the PCL is the only league that St. Paul would fit into. There are no AA or High-A leagues even close, so those are out. Even for the Midwest League, St. Paul would be a significant outlier for the league, with the closest other parks still being a 4 hour drive away, and the farthest Eastern Division teams being more than 800 miles away. 

 

Rochester MN as a AAA city is a complete joke. They are among the bottom of the pack for attendance in the Northwoods League. They can't even draw 1,000 people, in a league where they have the advantage of only playing in the prime months of June, July, and August. Thinking that they are going to build, and then fill a stadium with 10,000 people, especially when you've got April and May games to consider is beyond unrealistic. You have to remember that "real minor league" baseball isn't a factor for the vast majority of the people who come to minor league games. 

 

That issue of early season games isn't insignificant either. The fact that the Northwoods League doesn't play in cold weather months has been a huge help for a lot of cities that used to have Midwest League teams. It's also a benefit for American Association teams like the Saints/Sioux Falls/Fargo who don't start playing until Mid-May.

 

Case in point, if there is a midwest city that could really be primed for AAA baseball, it would be Madison. It's got a big enough population, its NWL attendance is double the next closest team, you've even got the element that the Brewers AAA affiliate in Colorado Springs is considered the least desirable location in all of AAA and is the team most likely to move. However, there is no talk at all of doing it, because, one the Mallards have a great thing going as it is, with no reason to shake it up, and two, Madison has had "real" minor league baseball before, in the form of not one, but two, Midwest League teams, and both of them failed miserably. There isn't even talk of moving the Mallards back into the Midwest League, which would be a perfect geographic fit, because their fans don't care, they just want to sit outside, drink beer, and maybe watch a little baseball too. That is the reality of what minor league baseball is about, in the case of dollars and sense.

I also thought of Madison as a possibility, but the only chance of success there would be as the Brewers' franchise, and it would probably require significant subsidization from the organization to stay afloat. Maybe they would be willing to do that in order to have the AAA team less than 90 minutes away, but a Twins' AAA team there would not be remotely viable.

[nowheresville]

 

That Beloit still has a MWL team, in Pohlman Field (the absolute worst ballpark in the MWL that has never come close to meeting what are supposed to be minimum MiLB standards), and Madison has been even less successful as a MWL locale is one of the great mysteries I will never quite understand.

 

Not only has Beloit outlasted two Madison teams, but a few different Rockford teams - which is even closer and couldn't make things work even with a new ballpark. The big difference is that Beloit is community owned - much like Burlington, which I'd argue is even a worse park and has more difficulty keeping teams - so all they need to do is keep turning a small profit and that's enough to keep the team in town / doesn't provide much reason for them to sell the team. Of course, the end of the current MILB agreement in 2020, may take the matter out of their hands.

 

BTW, I'm not sure that Pohlman Field has "never come close" to meeting milb standards, as much as it is a reflection of how much milb standards have changed since the early 80s. For a reminder, you just have to look at ballparks in the Northwoods League, several of which were Midwest League parks back in the 80s and 90s (including Warner Park in Madison) for a reminder that parks like Pohlman Field were pretty common 25 years ago.

[nowheresville]

 

I also thought of Madison as a possibility, but the only chance of success there would be as the Brewers' franchise, and it would probably require significant subsidization from the organization to stay afloat. Maybe they would be willing to do that in order to have the AAA team less than 90 minutes away, but a Twins' AAA team there would not be remotely viable.

 

One of the points I was trying to make is that if you think being a specific team's affiliate is needed for a team to be successful, then the team has no chance of being successful. While every minor league team has it's hardcore "Twins Daily" type fans, who will travel specifically to see the teams minor league players, the vast, vast majority of people who go to minor league games are just looking for a night out with the family or friends. Most of them couldn't tell you if they are watching AAA or Rookie ball, who the team is affiliated with, or even if the players are professionals or amateurs. That's why teams like the Saints do just fine without being connected to a major league team, and it's why the idea that the Twins could bring one of their minor league teams to Minnesota, and they would be successful because of their Twins affiliation just doesn't work.

[Guest]

 

Not only has Beloit outlasted two Madison teams, but a few different Rockford teams - which is even closer and couldn't make things work even with a new ballpark. The big difference is that Beloit is community owned - much like Burlington, which I'd argue is even a worse park and has more difficulty keeping teams - so all they need to do is keep turning a small profit and that's enough to keep the team in town / doesn't provide much reason for them to sell the team. Of course, the end of the current MILB agreement in 2020, may take the matter out of their hands.

 

BTW, I'm not sure that Pohlman Field has "never come close" to meeting milb standards, as much as it is a reflection of how much milb standards have changed since the early 80s. For a reminder, you just have to look at ballparks in the Northwoods League, several of which were Midwest League parks back in the 80s and 90s (including Warner Park in Madison) for a reminder that parks like Pohlman Field were pretty common 25 years ago.

 

True, "never" was a poor choice of words. It hasn't come close since the latest standards were imposed and communities like Beloit (and others, such as Burlington) were grandfathered in.

 

As for Beloit being a better ballpark than Burlington, we'll just agree to disagree. But both communities should be sweating over what could happen with the upcoming new MiLB/MLB agreement.