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Monday, August 11, 2008

Travel prices wreak havoc on teams’ budgets

Consider the problems for minor league baseball: The Pacific Coast League is spread out among 16 teams in three time zones, and the league’s 144-game schedule makes bus travel nearly impossible.

Though some teams receive financial help from their big-league partners, it’s not nearly enough to offset the soaring cost of getting a group of about 30 players, coaches and support staff across half the country.

“We are irrevocably married to commercial transportation,” said Branch Rickey, president of the PCL and grandson of the legendary Dodgers executive. “There is no room for divorce. We can’t get into Priuses or onto buses and solve our problems.”

Most teams were able to lock in good deals for the current season before the recent price surge, but they weren’t prepared for the new baggage surcharges some airlines began imposing to offset jet fuel costs.

Tacoma Rainiers president Aaron Artman estimates the baggage fees will cost his team at least $100,000 this season. Some teams may even ship equipment overnight next year rather than throwing it on the plane with the team.

The league is considering extensive changes beginning with the 2010 season to cope, including a heavily unbalanced schedule that would focus more on regional travel or on realigning divisions to cut down on lengthy road trips.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: August 11, 2008 at 01:01 PM | 12 comment(s)
Related News: General, Business, Minor Leagues, College

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1. Gamingboy Posted: August 11, 2008 at 02:58 PM (#2898489)

This is a huge problem for the PCL, the most spread-out of the Minor Leagues. It'll eventually become a problem for the other leagues as well, but not as much.

2. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: August 11, 2008 at 03:01 PM (#2898498)

I assume it's karma for putting teams from Iowa and Memphis in the Pacific Coast League

3. Gamingboy Posted: August 11, 2008 at 03:21 PM (#2898553)

I assume it's karma for putting teams from Iowa and Memphis in the Pacific Coast League

Don't forget New Orleans!

4. TerpNats Posted: August 11, 2008 at 04:36 PM (#2898802)

Realistically, Memphis and Nashville should be in the International League, giving it 16 teams. Or, if the AAA leagues merge, as has been proposed, form three 10-team divisions:

West: Sacramento, Las Vegas, Fresno, Reno (where the Tucson franchise is moving in 2009), Salt Lake, Tacoma, Portland, Colorado Springs, Round Rock, Albuquerque

Central: Iowa, Memphis, Omaha, Nashville, New Orleans, Oklahoma, Louisville, Toledo, Columbus, Indianapolis

East: Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Lehigh Valley, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pawtucket, Norfolk, Charlotte, Durham, Gwinnett (where Richmond will play in '09)

5. Belfry Bob Posted: August 11, 2008 at 04:41 PM (#2898823)

It's funny that cheap and quick travel enabled leagues to expand to absurdity and now the full circle will cause them to split up again...well, maybe...after all, people are still running their engines while sitting in drive-thru lines that take twice as long as getting out of the car and walking up to a cashier, so maybe the leagues will keep expanding!

6. In what respect, Craig K? Posted: August 11, 2008 at 04:44 PM (#2898834)

Was I the only one that had a momentary disconnect when I saw Branch Rickey talking about Priuses?

7. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: August 11, 2008 at 04:49 PM (#2898848)

"Was I the only one that had a momentary disconnect when I saw Branch Rickey talking about Priuses?"

That kind of threw me for a minute, too. I'm glad they put the context in the same graf.

8. John DiFool2 Posted: August 11, 2008 at 08:06 PM (#2899072)

Perhaps the American Association could be resurrected from the dead again?

9. Greg Franklin Posted: August 11, 2008 at 09:23 PM (#2899157)

Kevin Reichard of Ballpark Digest mentioned the AAA travel issue today, using anonymous farm director contacts to suggest a 2010 target date for the "split":

While we're not sure there's a lot of passion for the addition of a third Triple-A circuit, it seems a given that a heavily unbalanced schedule is on the agenda for 2010 -- so unbalanced that teams from the east and west may never play one another, leading to a de facto split of the PCL. Farm directors we've been in contact with are generally in favor of a totally unbalanced schedule, but the actual makeup of the league is of less concern to them. It's not as though Rainiers fans are looking forward to facing the likes of Memphis and Nashville (and vice versa), so the need for such a sprawling league is being questioned by many in baseball -- especially farm directors, who want to see their prospects travel as little as possible.

As to why the American Association disbanded anyway, the whiskeypedia linked to this April '98 piece, which claims it was voluntary. The benefits were said to be easier travel (!) and a AAA World Series.

10. Philippe Posted: August 12, 2008 at 05:35 AM (#2899379)

I agree with others that splitting the two AAA leagues back into three3 is the solution. There is never going to be a AAA World Series that is popular outside of the cities that play it (and even within those cities, it's probably a tough sell). That argument cannot be used to justify today's unwieldy arrangement. The problem is that the American Association name is now used by an Indy League, so the third league would need to be called something like the Central League or the Middle-America League or something along those lines.

It's hard for me to think of a single advantage to today's spread-out PCL. As someone mentioned earlier, it's not the prospect of seeing Fresno play in New Orleans or Memphis play in Tacoma that brings in the fans.

11. NTNgod Posted: August 12, 2008 at 05:52 AM (#2899381)

Kevin Reichard of Ballpark Digest mentioned the AAA travel issue today, using anonymous farm director contacts to suggest a 2010 target date for the "split"

The PCL has had a mostly unbalanced schedule (one series per year against each team in the other conference) for about the last five years or so anyways. It's not like it would be a terribly huge change.

12. Bob "Jugement" Dernier Posted: August 12, 2008 at 08:03 AM (#2899394)

Branch Rickey talking about Priuses

Always way ahead of his time.

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Travel prices wreak havoc on teams’ budgets

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