It’s no secret that bringing Double-A baseball to Erie was a grand and perhaps optimistic experiment.
Erie nearly always topped league attendance for Single-A ball, but taking the next step up is another matter, when you go up against cities that can put 6-thousand fannies in the seats every time the home team is in town.
So I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the development folks in Holyoke, Massachusetts have been talking to Mandalay Baseball Properties, the owner of the Erie Seawolves, about busting a move to New England.
Although only about 39,000 in number, Holyoke can draw from nearby New England communities like Springfield, and are hoping to build a new ball park as part of a 100 million dollar revitalization effort.
For once, time is on Erie’s side. It would take Holyoke several years to complete the stadium and the option to re-new Erie’s contract for up to three years comes due September 1st.
That gives the local folks a fighting chance of keeping the franchise through 2008 or so, but it seems likely that the handwriting is on the wall for the team to move out after that.
It’s not that Erie won’t support baseball.
It’s not that there’s nothing else to do downtown.
In fact, some argue that the variety of things to do in Erie, things like Freeze football, Otters hockey, the Playhouse, the Mall, the bay and the rest of it all compete to split a fixed number of entertainment dollars. Other communities with fewer venues can do a better job of keeping one franchise afloat.
It seems that Erie, always a price conscious town, can only fill Uht Park on Buck Nights, you know, when everything from the ticket to the dog to the beer costs a buck.
That’s a great deal, but it’s a marketing ploy to get people to check out the experience and then come back on a full price night. So far, the first part of the deal has been a smashing success while following through on the rest of it lags significantly behind.
What’s the bottom line?
Despite some pretty solid efforts to boost attendance, it appears that Erie fits in the baseball world better as a well attended Single-A franchise as opposed to a poorly attended Double-A club.
The Holyoke Seawolves?
No matter how nice the facility or how large the crowds, that still just doesn’t sound right.