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Thread: Bakersfield "very unlikely" to get a new stadium

  1. #1
    Sprinkles are for winners dougdirt's Avatar
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    Bakersfield "very unlikely" to get a new stadium

    For the last year, Bakersfield was supposed to be getting a new stadium. They had new owners take over and planned out a new baseball complex. They went about trying to fund it privately and the original date of completion was before the 2014 season. However during this year they moved it back to before the 2015 season. 15 minutes ago they sent out a press release that said the following:

    BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (October 7, 2013)—The owners (Gene Voiland and Chad Hathaway) of the Bakersfield Blaze released the following statement today:

    Over the past two years we have worked tirelessly with many people to build a privately-financed stadium that the people of Bakersfield could be proud of and would support. We made significant efforts to raise money from inside Kern County and nationally. Although we obtained significant commitments for the project, we fell substantially short of the goal required to build a stadium that would be successful. We are very thankful to those dedicated partners (contractors, government officials, land owners and investors) who were willing to step up and make an investment in Baseball and the Bakersfield community. Bakersfield should be one of the best Minor League Baseball markets in the country, and the stadium would have been transformational for the city and region. Disappointingly, a new stadium appears to be very unlikely.

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    camisadelgolf (10-08-2013)


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    Re: Bakersfield "very unlikely" to get a new stadium

    Crazy thing is they have removed portions of the stadium thinking this would happen.
    http://diamondvisits.blogspot.com/ My Minor League stadium review site.

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    Member JaxRed's Avatar
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    Re: Bakersfield "very unlikely" to get a new stadium

    Hope they revise that plan to bring 2 Cal teams to Carolina League

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    Re: Bakersfield "very unlikely" to get a new stadium

    What a trainwreck of a minor league franchise. I imagine if someone ranked all the minor league franchises across the country, Bakersfield would be near the bottom. Heck, they might be dead last. Junior high baseball games have better attendance.

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    Re: Bakersfield "very unlikely" to get a new stadium

    Well it turns out the new owners had an agreement to turn the Blaze back over to the old owner if the stadium fell thru, and now that has happened and the transfer of two teams to Carolina is back on the table.

    Stadium doesn't meet minimum standards, so they have to go somewhere.

    http://www.ballparkdigest.com/201310...of-bakersfield

    Reds should buy the franchise and move it back east

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    Re: Bakersfield "very unlikely" to get a new stadium

    A lot of interesting elements in place here.

    Reds would love to see this franchise moved to a high-A league in the east (either the Carolina League or the Florida State League). It would save them dramatically on travel expenses and make it infinitely easier to transfer players in-season to and from this team and Dayton or Pensacola.

    The ballpark in Bakersfield does not meet Minor League Baseball's minimum facility standards. What does that mean? Well, MiLB has a code of standards that relate to everything from the number of shower heads in the locker rooms to square footage in those same locker rooms to field lighting and everything else. There are many parks that fail to meet the standards in a few areas. All new parks are built to meet the standards. They have been playing in this park, hoping to get a new stadium built. It sounds as if Minor League Baseball has run out of patience now that another plan has fallen through.

    The problem is, there are no other vacant parks that do meet the standards. If there are only 29 available parks that meet standards within the footprint of the three high-A leagues, one team is going to be playing in a park that does not meet standards, and there is not much anyone can do about it.

    For the Bakersfield franchise to move to the Carolina League, some other owner also needs to be convinced to move his franchise and he has to be able to get out of his stadium lease. You can't move just one team and leave an odd number of teams in a league or there would be a huge scheduling problem coming out of the condition of one team having to be inactive every night. There is no chance, under any circumstances, of Bakersfield moving unless someone else goes with them. So they need two ballparks in the east.

    Kinston and Columbia have been mentioned. Neither is a perfect situation. Kinston has major security issues at their ballpark to the point where a police escort for the team bus was needed at times in the last season there. The neighborhood is too dangerous. There are stories from former employees of the final seasons there that are almost unbelievable (ie: front office staff told to lock the doors of the office and hide following a shooting).

    There might be opportunities in the Florida State League if Bakersfield can find a relocation partner. Reds are stuck in the middle of all this.

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    757690 (10-23-2013),Edd Roush (10-25-2013)

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    Re: Bakersfield "very unlikely" to get a new stadium

    Quote Originally Posted by redsof72 View Post
    Reds would love to see this franchise moved to a high-A league in the east (either the Carolina League or the Florida State League). It would save them dramatically on travel expenses and make it infinitely easier to transfer players in-season to and from this team and Dayton or Pensacola.

    ---

    There might be opportunities in the Florida State League if Bakersfield can find a relocation partner. Reds are stuck in the middle of all this.
    Given all of these problems you kind of wonder why the Reds were so quick to sell their FSL club after moving spring training to Arizona without having a more permanent solution in place for their A+ franchise.

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    Re: Bakersfield "very unlikely" to get a new stadium

    Hagerstown could also be in play. They announced they are moving elsewhere in Virginia today.

    The White Sox might take over Bakersfield in exchange for an updated Midwest League stadium . They have made it no secret they want all affiliates to be closer to either their AZ complex or Chicago.
    Last edited by 19braves77; 10-23-2013 at 10:21 PM.
    http://diamondvisits.blogspot.com/ My Minor League stadium review site.

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    Re: Bakersfield "very unlikely" to get a new stadium

    Quote Originally Posted by 19braves77 View Post
    Hagerstown could also be in play. They announced they are moving elsewhere in Virginia today.
    There is an interesting history of sorts to the pending Hagerstown move. The move will be to Fredericksburg, Virginia. The intent is for the low A team of the Washington Nationals to be in Fredericksburg beginning with the 2015 season. Recent events suggests this move is as close to certain as possible. A nice chunk of private money is on the table to get the team...seriously. Private investment moves these kinds of initiatives along. The Hagerstown park has been an undesirable park for years now and this move isn't overly surprising. As far as a Carolina League team moving into Hagerstown is concerned, it will most definitely entail the need for a new ballpark. Geographically, Hagerstown would work in the Carolina League nicely but it may not be financially feasible.
    Last edited by muddie; 10-31-2013 at 08:33 PM.

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    Re: Bakersfield "very unlikely" to get a new stadium

    As mentioned, Kinston has probably seen their last minor league team. To my knowledge there is no pursuit whatsoever of a team for the town. The owner of the last franchise there was probably elated to find a taker for the team when he did. I called The Kinston Free Press (local rag) about a year ago and inquired to the sports department about any effort on the part of anybody to bring minor league baseball back to Kinston. One word, Nothing. The sad part is that the last year Kinston was in the Carolina League they had what was considered the best playing field in the league. The park experienced some really nice refurbishments in the past 10 -15 years. It is true though that the park is located in a bad part of town. Real sad story all things considered.

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    Re: Bakersfield "very unlikely" to get a new stadium

    Quote Originally Posted by JaxRed View Post
    Hope they revise that plan to bring 2 Cal teams to Carolina League
    Trust me, it'll be this board that figures out how to make it happen first if it ever materializes.

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    mace (11-01-2013)


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