Latest in Sky Sox affiliation saga - Latest: Upgrades confirmed in San Antonio's Stadium

[craigharmann]

They did it again this weekend. They've done it the past 4 years in the dome. I went to the first one. It was ok. But I can't say I'm surprised San Antonio dragged their feet.

[balsamlaker]

Any chance the AAA San Antonio option falls through and the SkySox move directly to Wichita? Would seem like a good situation for the Brewers.

[Mass Haas]

Sky Sox plan ballpark renovations and say they're staying in Colorado Springs, but could they land in Kansas?

By Brent Briggeman, Colorado Springs Gazette

 

Workers at Security Service field replaced about 250 light fixtures hanging above the stadium on Thursday.

 

In the coming months, a revamp of the scoreboard will be competed for roughly $700,000 that will bring high definition to a screen nearly four times larger than its current size.

 

The Sky Sox are saying they intend to stay in the city, and the $1 million they're pouring into their venue near Barnes and Powers would seem to back that claim.

 

"We're building for a long future in Colorado Springs," general manager Tony Ensor said Thursday.

 

This has been the stance maintained by the team's local representatives through the past 15 months as talk of moving the team reached a crescendo. Even as owner David Elmore appeared before the San Antonio city council in April 2016 and announced an intention to move the team there for the 2019 season, Ensor cautioned that no move was imminent and many financial variables remained in play.

 

It appears he was correct. Media reports from San Antonio from the onset reflected a lack of enthusiasm for the city to raise money for a new stadium - a requirement for the move. In September, San Antonio mayor Ivy Taylor, who had championed the cause and previously said she was "all in" on bringing the Sky Sox to Texas, essentially shelved the project.

 

"At this point we don't have financial commitments from potential partners and I'm not willing to commit any tax dollars without that critical component," Ivy said in September. "In fact, contrary to previous reports, there will not be any provisions in the 2017 budget or in the proposed 2017 bond package relating to a downtown stadium. Consultants and staff will continue looking at various scenarios, but there is no timeline for action."

 

Elmore released a statement in September saying, "We are enthusiastic about a Triple-A ballpark in downtown San Antonio. Having studied other very successful examples of downtown Triple-A ballparks - in cities such as Charlotte and Nashville - and appreciating the potential of San Antonio, we want to participate in the opportunity to help move such a project forward in this city."

 

But even if San Antonio doesn't resurface as a potential destination, it doesn't mean the Sky Sox will stay. Ballpark Digest reports that Wichita, Kan., could become a suitor as the city is looking to spend $65 million on a new downtown ballpark - $40 million of which would come in sales tax revenue that has already been given preliminary approval.

 

Wichita's market size is ranked No. 96 nationally, just one spot below Colorado Springs at No. 95. So in that regard, a move to Kansas would be a wash.

 

Wichita, however, is located about 5,000 feet below Security Service Field. The Colorado Springs elevation, and its impact on pitching, has been a major issue for big league clubs that need to lean on the Triple-A level to develop arms.

 

Elmore Sports Group, based in Manhattan Beach, Calif., announced last year that it would move its short-season Pioneer League team from Helena, Mont., to Colorado Springs if it moved the Sky Sox. While that would represent a drop of four rungs down the minor-league ladder, it would mean that any renovations to Security Service Field wouldn't be wasted if a move eventually takes place.

 

But Ensor said he expects the Sky Sox, who recently signed a two-year player development contract with the Milwaukee Brewers, to be here for the long haul.

 

"There's really no change," he said. "There's no update. Our status remains the same as it was at the end of last season. . We're focusing on building our facility for a long future here in Colorado Springs."

[jerichoholicninja]

Good for the Sky Sox. Make that park more attractable for other organizations.

[MadThinker88]

Good for the Sky Sox. Make that park more attractable for other organizations.

 

Like your thinking...

[Mass Haas]

Sky Sox's future in Colorado Springs remains highly hazy

David Ramsey, Colorado Springs Gazette

[Hammer]

I have not read this entire thread word for word. - lots of it though. That said, is it time for another Wisconsin affiliate? I love the TRats but would pay good $ to go see a AAA team in Madison.

[jerichoholicninja]

I have not read this entire thread word for word. - lots of it though. That said, is it time for another Wisconsin affiliate? I love the TRats but would pay good $ to go see a AAA team in Madison.

 

That's only been mentioned about 500 times in this thread and many others. I think we'd all love to see it but many don't see the Brewers putting a AAA team so close to Milwaukee.

[leitermab07]

We have brought up the possibility of Mark A and the Brewers just purchasing land and building a stadium for a AAA team. Here a recent article about the Milwaukee county selling land for a minor league affiliate for 26 million. This would be great, but would not be available for a couple of years obviously. Cross your fingers..

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/blog/real_estate/2016/08/franklin-considers-26-million-plan-to-support.html - old article from August 11th of '16

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2017/03/05/zimmerman-looks-to-sell-naming-rights-to-franklin.html - recent article from May 5th

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2017/05/15/milwaukee-county-to-sell-land-for-ballpark-commons.html - updated article from May 15th

[Roderick]

We have brought up the possibility of Mark A and the Brewers just purchasing land and building a stadium for a AAA team. Here a recent article about the Milwaukee county selling land for a minor league affiliate for 26 million. This would be great, but would not be available for a couple of years obviously. Cross your fingers..

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/blog/real_estate/2016/08/franklin-considers-26-million-plan-to-support.html - old article from August 11th of '16

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2017/03/05/zimmerman-looks-to-sell-naming-rights-to-franklin.html - recent article from May 5th

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2017/05/15/milwaukee-county-to-sell-land-for-ballpark-commons.html - updated article from May 15th

 

Ignoring the issues of being so close to the Brewers, I don't think there is any way they would want a stadium that is only 4,000 capacity at AAA.

[FVBrewerFan]

Yea, that Franklin project has nothing to do with a AAA affiliate.

[And That]

The Sky Sox will cease operating as a AAA team as of 2019, and join the short season Pioneer League.

[And That]

Triple-A baseball leaving Colorado Springs; Sky Sox will become Rookie League team

By: Brent Briggeman

 

The 30-year run of Triple-A baseball in Colorado Springs will end in 15 months.

 

The Elmore Sports Group announced Wednesday it is responding to “pressure from within Major League Baseball” and moving the Triple-A Sky Sox to San Antonio for the 2019 season and replacing it in Colorado Springs with the short-season Rookie-level team currently in Helena, Mont.

 

The Double-A San Antonio Missions will move to a new ballpark in Amarillo, Texas.

 

The Elmore Sports Group owns the three relocating teams.

 

The possibility of this move was reported by The Gazette in Jan. 2016, and the Elmore family appeared with a team mascot before the San Antonio city council a few months later to announce intentions to relocate to the Alamo City. But the transaction was dependent upon the contingency of San Antonio building a new ballpark to house the Triple-A franchise.

 

That contingency no longer exists, and the only roadblock remaining is formal approval from the leagues involved.

 

“Unless something wacky happens, I don’t think there’s anything that could derail this,” said D.G. Elmore, president of the Elmore Sports Group.

 

The biggest impact for fans in Colorado Springs will be a drop from 70 to 38 home games and the length of time between seeing players at Security Service Field and in big league ballparks.

 

The team in Colorado Springs will retain the name of the Sky Sox, and the mascot Sox the Fox will still be part of the ballpark experience.

 

The degree of change on the field will be determined by fans’ ability to discern a difference in talent between the more refined Triple-A and Rookie Level baseball, where players are generally fresh out of college or even high school.

 

Current stars like Nolan Arenado, Mike Trout, Kris Bryant and Clayton Kershaw logged time in short-season levels.

 

“Fans are going to still get all the great promotions and see the great talent on the field that they’re used to seeing here at Sky Sox,” said team president and general manager Tony Ensor of the move to the Pioneer League, where the schedule runs from mid-June until early September, “but they’re going to get to do it in the best weather as opposed to coming out in April and May and experience some of those colder temperatures.

 

“The players are going to be hungry to make an impact in professional baseball, that’s what I’m excited about. Young players who want to put their best foot forward, and we get to see that talent, in many cases, right after the MLB draft and the College World Series. Those players will be coming here to Colorado Springs, and I think our fans are going to love that.”

 

The Sky Sox provided attendance data showing only 28 percent of its attendance over the past five years was accrued in the months of April and May, a span that accounts for roughly 40 percent of the home dates. Of the games lost to weather since 2006, 81 percent occurred in the time before the Pioneer League schedule opens.

 

Elmore cited weather as an issue that prompted the move, and weather has certainly played a factor in attendance. The Sky Sox crowds were the smallest in the Pacific Coast League last year and have ranked better than 12th in the 16-team league just once in the past dozen years.

 

Elmore, who didn't move the team through its consistent years of poor attendance, like the stretch from 2005-08 when it was last three out of five years, said the variable that changed and prompted the move was the impact of the city's high elevation.

 

The Sky Sox, who moved to Colorado Springs from Hawaii in 1988 as the Cleveland Indians' top farm team, had been the top affiliate of the Colorado Rockies since the franchise joined baseball as an expansion team in 1993. When the Rockies ended that relationship and moved to Albuquerque, N.M., in 2014, Colorado Springs and a stadium that towers as the nation’s highest professional ballpark didn’t make sense as the final player development destination for another franchise.

 

The Brewers were the last team standing in a multi-team affiliate shift in 2014 and have been paired with Colorado Springs since then by default.

 

“When the Rockies left there was a lot of pressure from within Major League Baseball to find some place for Triple-A other than an elevation close to 6,500 feet,” Elmore said.

 

The Brewers are affiliated with the Pioneer League team in Helena as well as the current Sky Sox, but affiliation agreements expire after the 2018 season so it is unknown which team will be tied to the new club in Colorado Springs. The Rockies own the Grand Junction team in that league, making them an unlikely option.

 

Pioneer League teams travel by bus, which will make for some lengthy trips for the Sky Sox in an eight-team league concentrated largely in Idaho, Montana and Utah.

 

Elmore, who is chairman of the board locally at Navigators, said he spends a lot of time in the Colorado Springs area and lamented that "it was a hard decision to make this move.”

 

Largely quiet on the long question of a move away from Colorado Springs, Elmore addressed two longstanding questions on the issue.

 

First, he said San Antonio was the only destination considered.

 

Second, he said it would impossible to say if a new ballpark in downtown Colorado Springs might have prevented this move.

 

“I don’t know. I’d hate to speculate that, ‘Gosh, if we would have had a downtown ballpark that would have made a difference.’ It doesn’t change the elevation much, I think it’s a few hundred feet,” said Elmore, whose group owns Security Service Field and has pumped more than $10 million in capital improvements in the facility over the past 12 years. “So probably not, but I’d hate to speculate on that.”

 

The speculation that can finally end is whether or not Triple-A baseball will survive in Colorado Springs, and if a replacement could be found.

 

“What I think is great about this is it answers all those questions, the rumors, that people have had over the past year, year and a half, about whether the team was going to be leaving,” Ensor said. “This answers that question in spades. The Colorado Springs Sky Sox are not going anywhere. We just celebrated 30 years here. I expect there to be a team to celebrate 60. I think that’s going to give our fans some comfort knowing that top-level, professional, affiliated baseball will be in Colorado Springs from here to eternity. We’re going to continue to create the best fan experience that we possibly can for the next year and a half as Triple-A, and then even more so as a Pioneer League short-season affiliate.”

[patrickgpe]

already posted this in MLB forum, but the brewers are still screwed IMHO. I am sure the ownership group will want to get a texas team as their affiliate. my guess is that the brewers will get stuck with Fresno and Houston gets San Antonio

 

http://ballparkdigest.com/200905261902/minor-league-baseball/news/affiliate-dance-2012

[Mass Haas]

FYI - The Gazette posts bus ride travel distances and times for Colorado Springs in the Pioneer League.

 

And will the Springs be placed in the "Northern" Division, where Helena is now? Otherwise the two divisions are askew, and the schedule is heavily weighted to division play.

 

For instance, currently Helena and Great Falls are just 90 minutes apart, Billings is under four hours away.

 

Rough, real rough.

[djoctagone]

oakland's pdc with the nashville sounds expires after the 2018 season. it would be awesome if oakland signed a pdc with fresno (less than a three hour drive from oakland without heavy traffic), and the brewers went back to nashville. while fresno's stadium isn't as new as nashville's, it was built in this century, and oakland would gain the proximity advantage.

 

the sounds' ownership wanted oakland because they wanted a winning team. the 2015 sounds had a .458 winning percentage; in 2016, .585; and currently, .514.

[adambr2]

Would Mark A even want to go back to Nashville? That was a pretty ugly breakup the first time .

[ReverendBrewmeister]

FYI - The Gazette posts bus ride travel distances and times for Colorado Springs in the Pioneer League.

 

And will the Springs be placed in the "Northern" Division, where Helena is now? Otherwise the two divisions are askew, and the schedule is heavily weighted to division play.

 

For instance, currently Helena and Great Falls are just 90 minutes apart, Billings is under four hours away.

 

Rough, real rough.

 

Moving Colorado Springs to the South and Idaho Falls to the North is probably the best move out of the current situation, assuming no other changes to the Pioneer League makeup. The rumor of a team potentially moving to Pueblo, CO in the future would necessitate another change in the alignment.

[Mass Haas]

COLUMN: No one to blame but Helenans for Brewers' departure

[lynchp]

already posted this in MLB forum, but the brewers are still screwed IMHO. I am sure the ownership group will want to get a texas team as their affiliate. my guess is that the brewers will get stuck with Fresno and Houston gets San Antonio

 

http://ballparkdigest.com/200905261902/minor-league-baseball/news/affiliate-dance-2012

 

Is Fresno a bad site?

 

Would the Brewers ever get to go back to Indianapolis or was that a bad site for the Brewers when they were there?

[Mass Haas]

Interesting article on why Colorado Springs (the city, stadium, etc.) will be just fine economically with a Pioneer League team --

 

Sky Sox won’t do business as usual

Bob Stephens, Colorado Springs Business Journal

[balsamlaker]

In March I threw out there the possibility of Colorado Springs moving to Wichita. That did not happen obviously, but the Wichita mayor commented a couple of weeks ago that he expects to make a MILB announcement by the end of the year. Any chance the Fresno sale to stay in Fresno falls through and the Grizzlies move to Wichita? I would think that Wichita would be very interesting to the Brewers organization as a AAA affiliate especially if they build a new stadium.

[brewmann04]

It.will be curious to see what happens when their agreement ends next season.

[Mass Haas]

If the Brewers do grab Las Vegas (now that the Mets have said goodbye after 2018), they'll be moving into a brand new stadium.

[balsamlaker]

Wichita has hired a consultant (Beacon Sports) to find them a MiLB team.