Car dealer makes
offer onl ball team
MARYSVILLE 10/31/02 - Two proposals are afoot for what the city should do with its money-losing Gold Sox professional baseball team, City Administrator Steve Casey said Thursday.
One proposal calls for keeping the Gold Sox in the troubled Western Baseball League while the league brings in teams to replace the recently departed Chico Heat and Sonoma Crushers.
A separate proposal by Marysville car dealer Don McCullough and Washington state sports entrepreneur Bob Bavasi would turn the Gold Sox into an amateur - but potentially money-making - team.
Under the amateur proposal, the city would relinquish control of the team to a community group headed by McCullough and Bavasi. The group would assume management of the team, lease Bryant field from the city and underwrite any future team losses, the two investors said during a telephonic press conference.
The city in exchange would share in team profits - if any - according to a formula yet to be negotiated. If no profits were realized, the city would still have to keep the stadium fit for play, Bavasi said.
The Gold Sox team would quit the WBL and associate with collegiate baseball leagues to compete in an invitational "summer series" tournament, Bavasi explained.
Players would not be paid. The 45-game season would run 11 weeks from May through mid-August. Almost all of them would be played at home to minimize travel costs. These combined savings would create a profitable economic model, Bavasi and McCullough contended.
Since the team was founded in 2000, the city has lost some $2 million on the sports operation, including a net loss of roughly $220,000 in the 2002 season, Casey said.
The two proposals will be evaluated first by the town Baseball Commission, then by the City Council, which has set Dec. 3 deadline for recommendations on the team's future, Casey said.
offer onl ball team
MARYSVILLE 10/31/02 - Two proposals are afoot for what the city should do with its money-losing Gold Sox professional baseball team, City Administrator Steve Casey said Thursday.
One proposal calls for keeping the Gold Sox in the troubled Western Baseball League while the league brings in teams to replace the recently departed Chico Heat and Sonoma Crushers.
A separate proposal by Marysville car dealer Don McCullough and Washington state sports entrepreneur Bob Bavasi would turn the Gold Sox into an amateur - but potentially money-making - team.
Under the amateur proposal, the city would relinquish control of the team to a community group headed by McCullough and Bavasi. The group would assume management of the team, lease Bryant field from the city and underwrite any future team losses, the two investors said during a telephonic press conference.
The city in exchange would share in team profits - if any - according to a formula yet to be negotiated. If no profits were realized, the city would still have to keep the stadium fit for play, Bavasi said.
The Gold Sox team would quit the WBL and associate with collegiate baseball leagues to compete in an invitational "summer series" tournament, Bavasi explained.
Players would not be paid. The 45-game season would run 11 weeks from May through mid-August. Almost all of them would be played at home to minimize travel costs. These combined savings would create a profitable economic model, Bavasi and McCullough contended.
Since the team was founded in 2000, the city has lost some $2 million on the sports operation, including a net loss of roughly $220,000 in the 2002 season, Casey said.
The two proposals will be evaluated first by the town Baseball Commission, then by the City Council, which has set Dec. 3 deadline for recommendations on the team's future, Casey said.
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