[JayCT]

Originally Posted by MMS02760

As for luring another baseball team, consider this:

Worcester ($70M) and the state of MA ($30M) had to commit over $100M in public funding to get the AAA affiliate of the Red Sox to move there.

Can any city in CT or CT state government afford a project like that which would be needed to attracted a new team?

Makes the Yardgoats deal look like a bargain. Jay

[ryanthegoldengod]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Makes the Yardgoats deal look like a bargain. Jay

It's probably the Red Sox tax. It's not just the Monster Seats or the Fenway Franks, even their minor league affiliates are overpriced!

[mp775]

Originally Posted by wetnewspaper

The quality of play can be pretty high in the independent league. I would encourage you to check it out. For example, Rich Hill of Dodgers fame was in the IL a few years ago. . . and two years ago I saw Rafael Palmero play for an opposing team there. Lots of former MLB players are in the league. Alejandro De Aza, who played LF for the Red Sox and Mets, is on the NB team currently.

And the Red Sox just signed Cody Asche from the Sugar Land Skeeters last week and assigned him to Portland.

[7express]

Originally Posted by JP Nutmegger

Tracy McGrady even played for the Sugar Land team a couple of years ago. I find it strange that all the teams in the Atlantic League are from the Northeast (with a new team in High Point, NC being the farthest south), and then you have one team from the Houston Metro.

The High Point team is where the Bridgeport Bluefish moved too.

As for the team in Sugar land, Texas?? A friend worked with the Bluefish for a number of years probably close to 8 to 10 years in a variety of roles and he said the league awarded the franchise to Sugar Land because they were going to create a whole nother 4 team division made up entirely of Texas teams. Obviously, that never panned out/got scrapped, so now they are basically an orphan along with the new High Point team. And not sure what else is going on with the league because once the Bluefish folded up shop I didn't really pay that much attention to it.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by MMS02760

The City of Hartford will be paying off the construction bonds for decades. The stadium supposedly ended up costing in excess of $70M.

For a lower level league, that is expensive.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by 7express

The High Point team is where the Bridgeport Bluefish moved too.

As for the team in Sugar land, Texas?? A friend worked with the Bluefish for a number of years probably close to 8 to 10 years in a variety of roles and he said the league awarded the franchise to Sugar Land because they were going to create a whole nother 4 team division made up entirely of Texas teams. Obviously, that never panned out/got scrapped, so now they are basically an orphan along with the new High Point team. And not sure what else is going on with the league because once the Bluefish folded up shop I didn't really pay that much attention to it.

I had read Fish folded, in total, and High Ridge team is truly a new team, not a reformed version of the Bluefish.

[ryanthegoldengod]

Just to illustrate my point about AA vs. AAA. There was a first baseman for the Yard Goats a couple years ago named Ryan McMahon who is now in the big leagues with Colorado. He played 182 games in Hartford and 125 games in AAA Albuquerque. Often game totals skew even higher than that towards AA on a prospect's path to the majors. I'd rather see future major leaguers for a longer period of time.

A couple of years ago Andrew Benintendi skipped AAA altogether and was called up to the Red Sox straight form AA Portland. Mookie Betts played 55 games in Portland and 45 games at Pawtucket.....

AAA is full of a lot of retreads. Many are more or less big league ready in case of an injury or a release with the big club. But that's kind of boring if you ask me.

[lginlg]

Originally Posted by ryanthegoldengod

AAA is full of a lot of retreads. Many are more or less big league ready in case of an injury or a release with the big club. But that's kind of boring if you ask me.

Absolutely. I produced a pilot for a reality show on an independent league years ago, and was told exacting that. The hottest prospects are at Double A.

[Chazbme99]

Connecticut can and will support multiple teams. The right location cities and finding a fan base is key.
New Haven would be a perfect spot for a new ballpark and team. I think a new Double A team will come into the Connecticut market within the next few years. New Britain Rock Cats had a very successful run and now Hartford Yard Goats are a big draw. Hartford really screwed up hiring such a ****ty contractor to do the construction and caused the delayed opening and millions of dollars in excess cost. Lawsuits and back door deals are the payback for the bad karma by stealing the team from New Britain. Only Hartford could screw up building a beautiful award winning ballpark that sells out games and draws thousands of people. Hopefully the city will start making money with that deal.
New Haven will be the target market eventually. They need a draw for people. They need to find a serious owner who will invest some money on the deal, not just publicly funded.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by Chazbme99

New Haven would be a perfect spot for a new ballpark and team..

Why?

NB & Bridgeport ranked 7th and 8th attendance in 8 team league last several years, farther from 6th than 6th was from 4th.

New Haven BB has failed before financially. As did West Haven. As did Bridgeport.