Stadium Trust? Bueller?

[RecycleMichael]

I've always been disappointed that there has never even been a hint of trying to lure a Triple-A franchise.  There is no reason our market wouldn't support it.  

I have had this conversation with Drillers owners, management and staff for years.

They have looked into Triple-A. There are only so many openings and most clubs have a much closer tie between the Major league team and the Triple-A team.

For the Texas Rangers, the Triple-A team is Round Rock which is 170 miles south in the next big market and the Double-A is in Frisco in the same metro area.

For the Kansas City Royals, the Triple-A team is in Omaha, the next big market and less than 200 miles away and the Double-A is south in Northwest Arkansas.

For the St. Louis Cardinals, the Triple-A team is in Memphis, their biggest market just 250 miles downriver and the Double-A team is in Springfield.

For the Houston Astros, the Triple-A is in Oklahoma City and the Double-A team is in Corpus Christie.

For the Colorado Rockies,  the Triple-A team is in Colorado Springs 70 miles and Tulsa is Double-A.  

To get a Triple-A team, we would have to steal one from Colorado Springs, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Omaha or Round Rock. Each of these are either bigger or closer markets with fairly new stadiums.

[swake]

Tulsa will probably be in line for a AAA franchise if MLB ever expands to 32 teams.  The two new markets would be former AAA markets and they'd also create two new AAA franchises.  Tulsa could step up and fill one of the four open slots.

Baseball is much more likely to contract than expand.

[DTowner]

The $20M is also paying for all of the street sweeping, trash pickup, mowing, weedeating, weed spraying, downtown marketing, etc. etc.

The trust boundary also doesn't change the fact that while they intend to develop the surrounding blocks, they don't own them. You can't redevelop property you have no control over.

I recall that at the time the Trust was being debated there were numerous articles stating that the Kaiser Foundation would sell various parcels of land to the Stadium Trust for its acquisition costs.  I guess I always understood those parcels to include land in addition to the land on which the Stadium itself would be built.  If so, the Trust should have/control some additional land that, as of yet, has not been developed.

As for AAA v. AA - is there any real advantage of one over the other from the perspective of fan interest or a draw to attend?

[SXSW]

As for AAA v. AA - is there any real advantage of one over the other from the perspective of fan interest or a draw to attend?

Not really.  But instead of series with Corpus Christi, Midland and Springfield we could have series with OKC, Omaha and Memphis.  The series with OKC would be fun and would likely draw bigger-than-normal crowds.

[JCnOwasso]

I don't see the advantage of getting a AAA team.  Virtually every player on the current Rockies MLB roster spent time with the Drillers.  If a player is good enough to play in the majors, there is a good chance they wont spent much, if any, time in AAA.  

I don't see a series between Tulsa and OKC being all that and a bag of chips...

[Conan71]

I don't see the advantage of getting a AAA team.  Virtually every player on the current Rockies MLB roster spent time with the Drillers.  If a player is good enough to play in the majors, there is a good chance they wont spent much, if any, time in AAA.  

I don't see a series between Tulsa and OKC being all that and a bag of chips...

We've had some really good ones come through here like Sammy Sosa, Dean Palmer, Bobby Witt, Pudge Rodriguez, etc.

[Red Arrow]

We've had some really good ones come through here like Sammy Sosa, Dean Palmer, Bobby Witt, Pudge Rodriguez, etc.

I'm not a sports fan but even I recognize Sammy Sosa's name.

[DowntownDan]

How about the Toronto Blue Jays?  Their current Triple-A affiliate is Las Vegas.  According to Wikipedia (reliable for sure) the team is struggling with attendance and have been unable to secure a new stadium.  Tulsa makes as much sense geographically to Toronto as Las Vegas.  Just a thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas_51s

[JCnOwasso]

We've had some really good ones come through here like Sammy Sosa, Dean Palmer, Bobby Witt, Pudge Rodriguez, etc.

and we have had some even better ones come through recently... Ubaldo Jimenez, Jeff Francis, Tulo, Matt Holiday.  No offense to Sammy and Pudge, but they both played a part of the steriod era.  As a matter of fact, Sammy was about the size of Tulo when he played here in the early early 90's.

Toronto is just crazy talk.  I have become a Rockies fan because of the drillers affiliation.  There is NO way I would cheer for a canadian team. 

[TulsaGuy]

One advantage of a AAA team is we would get more rehab stints from big leaguers which would add a little boost to attendance on those nights.  Imagine Todd Helton rehabbing for 3 games in Tulsa. 

[sgrizzle]

I recall that at the time the Trust was being debated there were numerous articles stating that the Kaiser Foundation would sell various parcels of land to the Stadium Trust for its acquisition costs.  I guess I always understood those parcels to include land in addition to the land on which the Stadium itself would be built.  If so, the Trust should have/control some additional land that, as of yet, has not been developed.

It does, but sofar that only includes a couple of old warehouses SW of the ballpark, by the tracks.