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How much support can Washington's Frontier League team field?

Sunday, May 26, 2002

By Joe Smydo, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

With sellout crowds at all but one home game since the middle of the 1996 season, the St. Paul Saints helped set the standard for success in the roller-coaster business of independent professional baseball.

	View a pdf image of today's full-page illustration for this story by PG artist Steve Thomas from the print edition of the PG's Washington section. This document was optimized and edited for Web display. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, available as a free download from Adobe. More on the Washington Wild Things: For Wild Things, building a roster a priority Char Valley grad is team's wild card Wild Things Promotional Schedule 2002 Wild Things Roster http://www.washingtonwildthings.com Online graphics: Where the Wild Things play Getting there Where to find it in the ballpark Concession prices Size of stadium compared to PNC Park 2002 Schedule Ticket prices

"We have 3,000 people here tailgating three hours before game time every single day," said Joe Block, spokesman for the Minnesota team that's co-owned by actor Bill Murray and part of the Northern League.

The owners of the Washington Wild Things dream of similar success for their 5-month-old Frontier League team, scheduled to play its first regular season game Wednesday at the new 3,200-seat Falconi Field in North Franklin.

Tickets for that much-anticipated 7:05 p.m. game against the Canton (Ohio) Coyotes sold out in 47 minutes. However, time will tell whether the Wild Things hold the community's interest as the St. Paul Saints have done, or fizzle like dozens of other independent teams in small towns across America.

"It almost is in the fans' hands," said Bob Carson, publisher of Minor Trips, an annual guide to minor league teams in independent leagues and minor league teams affiliated with Major League Baseball.

Carson described independent leagues as the "mom and pop" operations of professional baseball, featuring teams with the greenest players and leanest budgets. Some forgotten teams played in towns so small the franchises couldn't make ends meet, and there are stories of players traded for such items as 10 pounds of catfish and a few dozen bats and balls.

"The 'indies' are a crazy patchwork of leagues with a very checkered past. Some success stories, many broken dreams and empty wallets," said Carson, whose guide covers five independent leagues, including the Northern and Frontier leagues.

Carson said he's monitoring a couple of other independent leagues and will include them in the guide when they have demonstrated staying power. It's not just teams that come and go -- leagues have folded.

Though it's regarded as one of the more stable operations in independent baseball, the 10-year-old Frontier League still experiences turnover in franchises, with three of 12 teams relocating after last season.

The Wild Things are a reincarnation of the Canton Crocodiles, which played in a city four times larger than Washington for five years but posted some of the league's worst attendance figures.

After Washington-area investors bought, relocated and renamed the Crocodiles, a group of Ohio businessmen purchased the London Werewolves of Ontario, Canada, and moved the team to Canton as the Coyotes, believing a club still could make it there. In Illinois, meanwhile, a group of investors purchased the Springfield Capitals and moved the team to Rockford as the RiverHawks.

Frontier League Commissioner Bill Lee said franchise turnover over the years has enabled the organization to move steadily into bigger markets, with better stadiums and more stable ownership groups. Washington may be smaller than Canton, he said, but the Wild Things have a healthy market area that includes Pittsburgh.

The Wild Things hope a high-profile stadium along Interstate 70 will attract fans from West Virginia and Ohio as well as southwestern Pennsylvania. Minor-league baseball is billed as inexpensive family entertainment, and at Falconi Field, a couple with two children 4 to 12 will spend $38 on general-admission tickets, parking, four hot dogs, four small soft drinks and a program.

State Rep. Leo J. Trich, takes a tour of the new 3,200-seat Falconi Field in North Franklin, home of the Washington Wild Things.

The team will build on radio and television exposure by sending players to schools and community events, General Manager Ross Vecchio said. To develop a reputation as a good neighbor, the Wild Things scheduled exhibition games Friday and yesterday to raise money for three local charities.

Team officials said they're pleased with the community's interest so far.

A sample team budget, prepared by the Frontier League as a guide, shows a franchise generating $244,000 from the sale of 800 season ticket plans at $225 each and 800 partial-season plans at $80 each.

But John Swiatek, managing partner of the Wild Things' ownership group, said the team has sold the equivalent of 1,300 to 1,400 season ticket plans. The plans cost $210 to $420 each, depending on the type of seat. If the team sold 1,300 plans at $210 each, it would exceed by $29,000 the season and partial-season ticket figures on the sample budget.

Showing overall revenues of $1.6 million, the sample budget has a team generating $84,000 from game-day walk-up ticket sales (400 tickets costing $5 each at each of 42 home games); $105,000 from group ticket sales; $504,000 from concessions; $126,000 from souvenirs; $25,200 from the sale of $2 programs (300 per home game); and $36,000 from parking ($1 per car).

Swiatek said he hopes to draw 2,200 to 2,500 fans per home game. Based on season ticket sales, that would mean unloading an additional 800 to 1,200 tickets each home date through group sales or single-ticket sales at the gate. If it sold 900 tickets per home game at the $5 rate, the team would realize $189,000 during the season, equal to what the sample budget shows for group and walk-up sales.

The team will charge $3 for a program and $3 for parking. Fans may tailgate, but they won't be allowed to carry food or drinks into the stadium. Though a similar ban proved a public-relations nightmare for the Pittsburgh Pirates last season, Vecchio said the Wild Things' concession prices will be affordable, so the restriction will matter little.

The sample budget puts a team's expenses at $1.1 million, including $120,000 for administrators' salaries, $30,000 for the manager's and coaches' salaries and $49,600 for players' salaries.

Frontier League players may be no older than 27; some players have a couple of years' professional experience, while others have none. Paid $500 to $1,100 a month, players often live with "host families" during the season.

The sample budget earmarks $40,000 for stadium rental, but the teams' lease arrangements vary widely from city to city. While the Crocodiles paid $25,000 a year or 5 percent of gross income, whichever was greater, the Wild Things have one of the most expensive leases in the league, said state Rep. Leo J. Trich Jr., D-North Franklin, who put the baseball project together.

The team must pay about $185,000 a year in rent to Ballpark Scholarships Inc., the nonprofit group that built the $5.8 million stadium with $2 million of taxpayer assistance. The Wild Things must pay an additional sum, as much as $65,000 a year, to help Ballpark Scholarships provide financial assistance to students and maintain a capital reserve fund. The team also must maintain the stadium and grounds but may generate additional revenue by using the venue for concerts.

Besides the $5.8 million spent by Ballpark Scholarships, the Wild Things spent about $1 million on extras such as a children's play area, two corporate "party suites" and a picnic area with a grill and stylish sling furniture.

Swiatek said the ownership group, which includes former Pittsburgh Steelers center Dermontti Dawson, envisions a long-term commitment to minor league baseball in Washington and wants to go first class.

Like the Wild Things, the Frontier League's Gateway (Illinois) Grizzlies open a new stadium this year. But a stadium isn't necessarily the key to success -- the St. Paul Saints' ballpark is 20 years old.

The Washington Wild Things will open their season Wednesday at the new Falconi Field.

Carson, publisher of Minor Trips, said it's difficult to predict whether a community will embrace independent baseball.

"It's almost an elusive thing, and sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't ... Are the people going to get hungry for it? Are they going to want it?" said Carson, who plans to visit Falconi Field this season.

A minor-league team affiliated with the Cleveland Indians played in Canton for eight years before moving to nearby Akron in 1997. Angry about the move, the people of Canton gave little support to the Crocodiles, the replacement team, Carson said.

But minor-league baseball quickly took hold in St. Paul, which has an "inferiority complex" because of its larger twin city and enjoys offering something Minneapolis doesn't, Saints spokesman Block said.

Fans sleep on the sidewalk five days before tickets go on sale. To sustain the interest, Block said, the team is "always pushing the envelope" with activities and entertainment every half-inning. And to ensure the team meets the needs of younger fans, Block said, the Saints this season hired a 9-year-old girl as chief executive officer and have honored virtually every request she's made.

Trich initially hoped to bring a major league team's Class A farm club to Washington and said that still could happen down the road, with the Wild Things' owners getting first crack at buying the new team. Meanwhile, the Wild Things hope to capitalize on what the league calls a budding interest in independent baseball.

While independent teams don't always make it, Carson said, "It's irresistible for people to keep trying."