August 24, 2004
Effort begun to return minor league ball to area
By RALPH LEEF
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Chris Lee is a man with a dream.
He looks three years into the future and sees Sonoma County families flocking to a sparkling new Class-A minor-league ballpark to enjoy America's summer pastime.
Some may call it a pipe dream. But Lee, of Kenwood, is a driving force in a group that has developed a business plan and begun to build community support to bring affiliated minor-league baseball back to the Redwood Empire.
Although no money has been raised, no land purchased nor promised for a new stadium, Lee says he's making progress.
"My expectation is next year we would be making an announcement and putting forth good-faith money and a time line to complete the purchase of a California League team," he said.
Although Lee hasn't identified the Cal League franchise targeted for purchase, Visalia and Bakersfield are expected to be available.
The value for an existing Class-A team is $3.5 to 4 million, according to Joe Gagliardi, president of the Campbell-based California League.
Gagliardi said Sonoma County is considered a prime location, and that several Cal League team owners have been looking closely at the area.
"The proof of the pudding is whether they can deliver," he said. "If they can turn the handle, I can deliver a team."
Gagliardi said he has kept an eye on the Sonoma County market since he helped bring the Pioneers to Rohnert Park in 1980. The team left after six seasons.
"Sonoma County is an area deserving of a Cal League franchise," Gagliardi said. "It was a question mark 15 or 20 years ago, but the area is ripe for it now."
Lee, an assistant news director for a San Francisco television station, believes there is a built-in core fan base -- vestiges of the original Pioneers and, later, the Sonoma County Crushers of the independent Western Baseball League.
Santa Rosa resident Bob Mahre, a former season ticket holder for the Pioneers and Crushers, is among that target audience.
"Where can I buy my season tickets?" he said.
Lee, who went to many Crushers' games with his son before the league folded two years ago, said he expects to reduce the number of potential stadium sites to five. He envisions a multi-use stadium seating at least 4,000. He said the prime locations are along the 101 freeway north of Santa Rosa to Windsor, but declined to identify the sites until additional research is completed.
A stadium, which must meet Major League standards, would cost $12 to $15 million, according to Lee, not including 18 to 20 acres.
A Santa Rosa Convention and Visitors Bureau task force, headed by Lee, is looking into the feasibility of building a stadium.
"It won't be easy, but our hopes are high," said Jim Olmsted, a former assistant planning director for Sonoma County.
"It's very possible here," said Petaluma Mayor David Glass, a member of the task force and a former San Francisco Giants radio announcer.
"We would be a feeder system for a major-league baseball team," said Glass, who also spent 15 years broadcasting minor-league baseball. "People need to know this isn't amateur or semi-pro baseball. This would be a league for top young major-league prospects."
Lee, who visited Midwest League stadiums last week, said it is Cal League or bust for his group. He said independent leagues generally aren't financially secure enough.
Unless private property is donated or exchanged for a partnership interest, Lee's Pacific Baseball Partners will have to focus on public land.
Olmsted said the group has met with members of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.
"They have been very supportive," he said.
Among those is Supervisor Paul Kelley, whose Fourth District straddles Highway 101 from Santa Rosa north to the Mendocino County Line.
"As an avid baseball fan, I'm interested in the concept," Kelley said. "The biggest challenges are finding a location and building the facility."
Kelley said he doesn't know of a large enough parcel of county-owned land available along the 101 corridor for a new ballpark and has suggested that Lee and his group check on land closer to the county airport.
But Kelley acknowledges that a ballpark closer to downtown Santa Rosa would be ideal. His suggestion is to utilize city redevelopment agency land south of
Railway Square, which would provide "more mutual beneficial use."
No major-league affiliated league has failed in the past 20 years, according to Minor League Baseball, but seven independent leagues have folded in the past decade.
"We want to be a major-league affiliate," Lee said. "The Crushers were a success. The problem was the (independent) league. There is a big difference between affiliated and independent baseball."
Lee's plan is to raise $4.5 million to purchase an existing Cal League franchise and run the operation for one season in its present location until a stadium is built in Sonoma County for the 2007 season.
He knows he must get the right site before he can line up investors to purchase a team and build a stadium.
"I'm not expecting to finalize the ownership picture until the beginning of next year, when I can present which site we're going to develop," Lee said. "I don't really need the money until then, and I feel I'm in a stronger position if I wait until we have a real site, thus making the whole venture less hypothetical."
Minor-league stadiums were popping up like fast-food franchises in the 1990s when public money was easier to get. But no more. And Lee said he doesn't expect much, if any, public funding.
"It's not like the good old days," Lee said. "We're not expecting voters will pass a tax increase to support this, or that any city or county will make a big commitment."
There could be bond financing, Lee said, but it would not be the type that requires voter approval because no city or county would be directly responsible for making the payments.
In northern Nevada, the Washoe County Commission authorized $35 million in bonds to help finance the Reno/Sparks stadium. The bonds are to be paid back with $18 million in rental-car tax, $6.3 million rent from the team, an extra $1 per ticket from users of the stadium and redevelopment tax funds.
Reno needs an additional $20 million for the stadium and to purchase an existing Triple-A team.
Only three of the country's 160 minor-league teams with major-league affiliation have built stadiums with private money. One is Raley Field in West Sacramento -- the home of the Triple-A River Cats, an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. The franchise has had the highest attendance in minor-league baseball the past three seasons.
Raley Field, which sits near the banks of the Sacramento River, was built with $40 million in private financing guaranteed by public bonds. The River Cats are drawing an average of 10,023 spectators a game this season, best in the minors.
Last year was the best in the modern era as minor-league baseball drew slightly more than 39 million fans. This year's attendance is expected to top the 40 million mark.
The health of the minor-league game is driven in part by its being affordable. A recent survey by the offices of Minor League Baseball shows that a family of four can attend a minor-league game for an industry average of $43.34, including tickets, food, program and parking.
The average ticket costs $7 or less in 146 of the 160 ballparks surveyed and for $6 or less in 126 stadiums. Parking is free in nearly half of the minor-league sites in the U.S. and Canada.
But not all the news is good in the minors. Ten percent of the clubs amassed 70 percent of all net income. Half of all clubs reported net losses.
Rohnert Park built the 10-acre Rohnert Park Stadium in 1981 for the Redwood Pioneers of the California League. Out-of-area owners moved the Pioneers to Palm Springs in 1986 and the county was without pro baseball until the birth of the Crushers in 1995.
More than 700,000 spectators attended Crushers games in eight seasons.
When the league folded, Crushers owner Bob Fletcher lined up financing for a stadium in Santa Rosa and initiated talks with Cal League officials, but could not find affordable land. He was forced to fold the team when the City of Rohnert Park, faced with budget woes, decided to sell the stadium site for business development.