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Date Posted: 22:33:49 08/25/03 Mon
http://www.observer-reporter.com/278492631305900.bsp
Expansion, team movement on the horizon for Frontier League
BY CHRIS DUGAN
THE OBSERVER-REPORTER
dugan@observer-reporter.com
Independent baseball leagues usually have three seasons - the regular season, the postseason and the moving season.
The Frontier League knows all too well about moving season. In each of the past two years, there have been three franchise relocations in the 12-team league. And there could at least one more in the coming months.
With Kenosha averaging a mere 609 fans per game, there is plenty of speculation the team's stay in Wisconsin will be a short one. The Mammoths played four seasons in Huntingburg, Ind., as the Dubois County Dragons, before moving to Kenosha this year, hoping that the larger market would provide financial stability.
Only the Florence Freedom, who are playing their home games in Hamilton, Ohio, while waiting for a new stadium to be built in northern Kentucky, is doing worse at the turnstiles than Kenosha. Florence is averaging 455 fans per home game. Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee, however, isn't concerned about the Freedom's future.
"Florence is playing in a different state, 50 miles from where they are going to be playing and in a temporary facility," Lee said during a recent trip to Washington. "Are they going to draw in Hamilton? No. So I'm not worried about that one, but obviously we have to do something about the Kenosha franchise. We have to solidify that one. Everything else is in good shape."
From the time the moving vans left Huntingburg, it was rumored Kenosha would be only a temporary home for the Frontier League. That seems even more likely now. But where will the franchise relocate?
One possibility is, of all places, Hamilton. Part of the deal in allowing Florence to play in Hamilton was that the Ohio city could get expansion franchise or relocated team when one becomes available. A Hamilton group has already applied for a franchise.
Another possible spot for a franchise is Lee's Summit, Mo. League officials visited the Kansas City suburb this week and word is that a team could be operating there, possibly as soon as next year.
Lee believes the Frontier League is on track to expand, perhaps as soon as 2005.
"The immediate goal is to get 12 teams solid. The intermediate goal for the league is to get to 16 teams," said Lee. "The Frontier League has, because of its geographics, the potential to be the largest of all the independent leagues."
An expansion to 16 teams would almost certainly include a franchise within a short driving distance of Washington, now the league's eastern-most location. The Wild Things lost their two closest rivals - Johnstown and Canton, Ohio - last offseason. The shortest road trip for the Wild Things this year is to Chillicothe, Ohio, more than three hours away.
Lee spent a weekend earlier this month in Washington, and he was doing more than watching games at Falconi Field. The commissioner visited several locations for an expansion team, including Butler, where a group wants to place on a team and renovate historic Pullman Park.
Another Western Pennsylvania location could be the Greensburg/Murraysville corridor. A potential ownership group from Greensburg was in Washington last week and attended a Wild Things game.
Morgantown, W.Va., has also been mentioned as a potential site.
"It's not just Butler. There are three or four good markets within this area, within a commuting distance from Washington, which would be a tremendous asset to the Wild Things and the league," Lee said.
"There is a lot of potential in the area west of Cleveland and the Detroit area. But we've got to get somebody who will partner up with the Wild Things. And that will happen."
At a time when two independent leagues folded this year - the Arizona-Mexican and the Canadian - Lee said the Frontier is at an all-time high in terms of interest from potential markets and ownership groups. Just how many of those can get past the talking and planning stages will determine how soon the league expands.
"In one of the league meetings, an owner was jotting down all the places that I've been to or will visit in the very near future," Lee said. "There was something like 22 potential markets from Kansas City to the Pittsburgh area. We've had inquiries from the upper peninsula of Michigan, as far west as Kansas City and as far south as Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. I would say that a 400-mile radius of Indianapolis is what we're talking about. It's been amazing the amount of interest we've had."
There was even a group from Colorado that, according to Lee, was willing to pay the travel expenses of visiting teams if the league would place a franchise there.
One area that is making a strong push for a Frontier team is Traverse City, a resort town in northwest Michigan. Leo Trich, the league's director of development, Wild Things owner John Swiatek and Lee visited Traverse City three weeks ago and each told the Observer-Reporter they were impressed by the market and its potential.
John Wuerfel, a former hotel owner in Traverse City, along with his wife and oldest son, want to build a 4,000-seat, $6-million ballpark. What makes the project even more attractive is the Wuerfels are not asking for financial support. They plan to finance the ballpark on their own. The Wuerfels have even announced they will name a team, if they are granted a franchise, the Traverse City Cherry Bears.
The earliest Traverse City could join the league is 2005.
"One nice thing about the way our league has grown," Lee said, "is we don't need to have goals. We can grow the league as big as we want, and at our pace."
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