A Question About Salisbury & The Delmarva Shorebirds (Baltimore, Frederick: movie theaters, schools)

[Phil A. Delphia]

I live in Greenville, NC and there is interest in bringing minor league baseball to town. I've had some discussions with some folks around here, and while most are in favor of it, some had doubts about whether it would work out successfully. Their biggest point is that Greenville is a large college town without an interstate, is surrounded by rural communities, and is not affluent or economically diverse enough (We have a major and fast growing medical district and a large university, but not a lot of industry or corporate headquarters.) to attract activities beyond movie theaters, etc. In doing research I see that affluent, larger towns like Savannah and Asheville have teams in the SAL that perform rather poorly, near the bottom annually in attendance while The Shorebirds, in the much smaller Salisbury, rank right around sixth year in and year out. Other than that Greenville is about three times the size of Salisbury and a little further away from the Atlantic, Salisbury and Greenville have some certain similarities: a bit isolated; a university; no interstate; not affluent and/or diverse economically in comparison to most other minor league towns. So, as a part of my research, my question to the residents of eastern Maryland is:

What makes The Shorebirds such a successful attraction in Salisbury?

[North Beach Person]

I can't answer your question but you should also look at the Southern MD Blue Crabs and Bowie Baysox for your comparison.

[Phil A. Delphia]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

I can't answer your question but you should also look at the Southern MD Blue Crabs and Bowie Baysox for your comparison.

I'm not sure that's an accurate comparison. Waldorf and Bowie are directly competing for fans in the same fairly-well populated area, regionally close to a major city. The closest teams to Greenville are near Raleigh and in downtown Durham, each an hour-plus away. I've been through Salisbury several times. It's surrounding areas are quite rural, yet their minor league team draws well. What makes it work so well in Salisbury?

[westsideboy]

The Eastern Shore is baseball country. They love it there. Their HS teams are always among the best for schools their size. Mt. Ridge had to beat an Eastern Shore team in the 1-A finals this year. For baseball fans out there, the great Jimmy Foxx was from the Eastern Shore.

[Phil A. Delphia]

That's good to hear! Local sports is wildly popular in Greenville. One of the LL teams made it to the LLWS a few years ago, and East Carolina ranks 22nd in the nation in attendance in Div. 1 college baseball. NC is already a popular state for the minor leagues, but mostly they're west of Raleigh.

[tnorbo]

although the shorebirds tend to suck they are a vital part of the city, and a source of civic pride. the stadium is named after the most successful person from the city, whose family still invest large amounts into the town. all the schools plan trips there, even the ones from outside town. everyone just wants to do their best to support the local economy, and theres hard to find a better way then spending an afternoon at a ball game.

[MidValleyDad]

Also the Shorebirds are an affiliate of the Orioles so they benefit from having Baltimore Fans come down to see the future prospects. with it being near Ocean City it gives them a steady rotation of potential patrons all summer. The Orioles have done well by moving their farm teams into the area surrounding Baltimore. The Keys in Frederick, Ironbirds in Aberdeen, Baysox in Bowie all benefit by being close enough that Baltimore area residents can come out for a fairly cheap night to see up and coming or Rehabing Orioles.

[Phil A. Delphia]

Thanks for your input so far. I was thinking one reason minor league baseball could work well in Greenville is because it's an affordable and fun way for families and adults to be entertained without having to travel out of town. Our isolation could be a benefit for minor league success here. Is that also the case in Salisbury with The Shorebirds?

[htownterp]

I think isolation is a good thing for minor league baseball because you don't run into territorial rights of other teams and you can keep some of your entertainment dollars home. I will say Salisbury gets a lot of through traffic to Ocean City and some of the DE beaches. At times, there can be a quarter of a million people in Ocean City, which is 25 miles or so away. I don't know that Greenville gets the same kind of traffic on US264 that US 50 brings through Salisbury.

I know Wilmington, NC is looking into minor league baseball as well, which I always felt would be a good fit there in the right stadium location.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's as easy as snapping your fingers and having a minor league baseball team in your town. There are a limited number of them and they are a hot commodity. You would probably have to look at taking someone else's team, like Wilmington is trying to do (Lynchburg VA's class A team).

[Phil A. Delphia]

I know it's not easy to get a team, especially starting from scratch. Up until this year there was a Carolina League team in Kinston, about 25 miles to the south. Their owners were forced to sell their franchise to the Carolina Mudcats (near Raleigh) when the Cleveland Indians notified them they would not return to Kinston; so they've been left without a team. The Kinston stadium is fine, though old and without the upscale, modern training facilities that MLB teams prefer. Also Kinston has always been a small industry-based town with an overall regression. Greenville has become the hub of this region, now the 10th largest town in NC (but basically with only one suburb). If MiLB is coming back to come back to this immediate area, then its proper market should be Greenville. Honestly I think it'd be 3-5 years before the town council would even set up a feasibility study. Our downtown needs an overhaul plan anyway. I'd rather see this done right and see a team in 7-10 years rather than just stick a stadium on the side of a highway going out of town. Greenville does not have the tourism traffic that Salisbury has, but our population is about three times as much. So far everything has been set up to please the college students, but the hospital's massive growth has brought good jobs. The side-effect is that adults and families don't really have entertainment options outside the campus. We've had to settle for eating-out as something to do. We need more options and individually we have the money to support a team.