Rapidz will not operate in 2009

[OttawaBallFan]

The Ottawa Rapidz will NOT be back next season. Read more here:

www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/sports/story.html?id=e016871b-f355-4a9b-b815-973f8a77bc82

It seems that the city of Ottawa has already informed the team this morning that the rent pass 2009 will go up from $108k per season to "in the neighbourhood of $1 million". As a result, owner Rob Hall figured he would cut his losses and not operate for 2009.

This is truly a shock to baseball fans here in Ottawa and totally unexpected.

[summerfan]

There is still a very good chance they will be back.

[OttawaBallFan]

You may be right as CTV mentioned that Miles Wolff wants to talk about this with the mayor. But looks like Hall has decided he won't continue. My guess is that Miles will take over the team for 2009 and try to change the city's mind about the lease. That would give him a year to negotiate. Mr. Wolff is our only chance (again). But do you really think the city is going to make it easy for the Rapidz to get a decent lease? I'm not optimistic about it.

[summerfan]

You may be right as CTV mentioned that Miles Wolff wants to talk about this with the mayor. But looks like Hall has decided he won't continue. My guess is that Miles will take over the team for 2009 and try to change the city's mind about the lease. That would give him a year to negotiate. Mr. Wolff is our only chance (again). But do you really think the city is going to make it easy for the Rapidz to get a decent lease? I'm not optimistic about it.

Yes i do think the city council will give them a good deal.What i have a feeling the 1 million dollar rent was exuslive use of the stadium.Meaning they could hold concerts and events.With the $100,000 rent i do not think it was exuslive.

[Morris Mott]

I wonder if the $1 Million dollar fee is just a way to place the Can-Am League out of the picture. By charging the Rapidz a much higher stadium fee, knowing full well it's unworkable or feasible to pay, the City of Ottawa would force the Rapidz to not renew their lease (the one they took over when the Lynx left town).

With the Rapidz no longer a consideration the stadium would now be free for other tenants? Who are these "other" tenants? Anyone remember David Butler? He was the one who had a plan to turn the stadium into a concert venue that would showcase 40 concerts a year with 15,000 to 25,000 paying customers each time(after redesigning the layout of the stadium).

Has the City revisited this proposal? If they keep the stadium as is, owned by the City and stick with the Rapidz, they can get $108,000 a year in rent. But if they go with Butler's plans to sell to them, they get $750,000 a year in property taxes in addition to any other revenue percentages.

Right now thou, who can really say what's going on for sure.

[spaggis]

Before everyone blames the city, let's wait until more facts come out. I really doubt the city was going to raise the rent 10X.

I have a very low opinion of the Rapidz owner(s). To me this simply looks like they are trying to get out without looking like the bad guys (and without paying their debts). Of course, given their past actions, it shouldn't be unexpected.

Hopefully Miles still believes in Ottawa. The mistake Miles made was believing these owners. Ottawa will work if we have good owners.

[summerfan]

Before everyone blames the city, let's wait until more facts come out. I really doubt the city was going to raise the rent 10X.

I have a very low opinion of the Rapidz owner(s). To me this simply looks like they are trying to get out without looking like the bad guys (and without paying their debts). Of course, given their past actions, it shouldn't be unexpected.

Hopefully Miles still believes in Ottawa. The mistake Miles made was believing these owners. Ottawa will work if we have good owners.

I am not a fan of the owners for a few reasons.But from what i have seen yes it does seem the city wants the team out and they want to build a mega store a idea or walmart on that land.

[spaggis]

I am not a fan of the owners for a few reasons.But from what i have seen yes it does seem the city wants the team out and they want to build a mega store a idea or walmart on that land.

I'm not sure what you're basing those statements on. I thought we got over that (and the stupid 'turn it into a concert venue' idea) when the city council voted to let Miles take over the last 2 years of the Lynx lease.

The Citizen article today spells things out pretty clearly that the city is willing to go along with a good deal for the team. The $1 million number only came up in discussion with city staff and related to a larger deal for exclusive use of the stadium. I'm sure even that number was negotiable.

The bottom line is that the Rapidz owner is misrepresenting the facts in order to make the city look like the bad guy. Some news reports are buying this but some actually are reporting the facts.

[OttawaBallFan]

Morris said:
> I wonder if the $1 Million dollar fee is just a way to place the Can-Am League out of the picture.
> With the Rapidz no longer a consideration the stadium would now be free for other tenants?
> Who are these "other" tenants?

I think you are way off. There are no other tenants. Now that more (accurate) info is available, this is more like Hall wanting out. In fact, I heard whispers of Hall wanting out since mid August. Still, why mention that the city was going to increase the rent like that as the reason to fold? Once we got over the shock of the initial story, cooler heads realize that this figure did not make sense. But why make the city look like the bad guy? This only makes Hall look like an idiot. He should have just said "I quit" and leave it at that.

So as Spaggis said, it is doubtful the city would have raised the rent ten-fold. He wanted out without looking like a bad guy but it backfired on him. Miles Wolff still believes in Ottawa as a baseball venue and so do I. If fans had a low opinion of Hall, as I know many did, this little episode only reinforces that opinion. We can only console ourselves that he's now gone.

Couple of other things that don't seem to jive with me and others.

First, Hall claims he lost $1.4 million (Citizen article). Seems awfully high. Some poor decisions in my mind may have lead to that. He took over the restaurant and it was being renovated all summer. Actually, the renovations stopped in June I believe so that the money could be redirected to the on-field product. I estimate he put at least $100k and possibly as much as $200k (maybe more) towards those renovations.

Other mistakes is not knowing how many people were needed on game days and in the beginning, having too much personnel. I also know that security was cut down significantly in the second half so he wanted to cut on expenses. He also brought in his own people who likely got paid very well, more than what a baseball minor league/independent team should be paying.

Second, this thing about the Rapidz or Hall buying the stadium also does not make sense. I also heard that one before and did not believe it then. When you figure the land and stadium are worth $20 million (my estimate and confirmed by Citizen article), why in the world would he assume a debt like that which would take decades to pay off? It is better to rent than to buy and operate, although you have less control.

[jackalsfan]

I'm not sure what the deal is......but I think its over.

The CanAm League site has gotten rid of the Rapidz team page and logo on the banner.

[summerfan]

I'm not sure what the deal is......but I think its over.

The CanAm League site has gotten rid of the Rapidz team page and logo on the banner.

No its not over miles will be talking to talk the mayor.But because the team has filed for chapter 11 they might have to start over.

[OttawaBallFan]

Thanks for pointing out the missing Rapidz logo on the league site. I don't think it means much however.

And Summerfan is right, Miles will discuss it with the mayor, he still holds the stadium lease (the league has it, not the team) and good for one season.

I have not thought about starting over however. Good point. Since Hall declared bankrupcy, does this mean that the players are now free agents? Will the resurrected Rapids have to start from scratch again and recruit totally new players? I never thought I'd say this, but we need a lawyer to clear this up.

[titanium]

For the most part I think the owners did a pretty good job this year in trying to get fans to the games. But I do not have all the facts & maybe they are the "bad guys" in all of this.

I have written to the City and to the League expressing my anger & disappointment. I have also noticed the League Web Site removed reference to the Rapidz.

I hope saner heads prevail. I hope the City is willing to negotiate reasonably & I hope either the League or new owners take over the team. But for me bringing a lame duck team back for one year only is definately not an option.

I think a team in this League has a chance to survive long term in Ottawa given half the chance. I hope Miles Wolfe can pull a rabbit out of the hat again.

[spaggis]

For the most part I think the owners did a pretty good job this year in trying to get fans to the games. But I do not have all the facts & maybe they are the "bad guys" in all of this.

I have written to the City and to the League expressing my anger & disappointment. I have also noticed the League Web Site removed reference to the Rapidz.

I hope saner heads prevail. I hope the City is willing to negotiate reasonably & I hope either the League or new owners take over the team. But for me bringing a lame duck team back for one year only is definately not an option.

I think a team in this League has a chance to survive long term in Ottawa given half the chance. I hope Miles Wolfe can pull a rabbit out of the hat again.

I guess we have very different views about whether the Rapidz owners did a good job of anything this year. I would give them a failing grade on all accounts.

How can you say they did a good job of trying to get fans to the games when they never advertised in the newspaper with the largest circulation (even though that paper gave them decent to good coverage - better coverage than the paper they did advertise in).

How can you say they did a good job of trying to get fans to the games when they had a 'Break the Attendance Record' night on a weeknight that they didn't try to advertise in any special way? It was as if they thought they could get their biggest crowd by not trying. That was typical of their marketing efforts.

I could go on and on about their attempts to market the team. Basically I think they were amateurish at best.

I don't think you should be expressing anger and disappointment to the city and the league, those feelings (or much stronger) should be directed to the people who caused this problem - the Rapidz owner(s).

Instead you should express support and encouragement to the city and the league. Remind the city that Miles is a stand-up guy (unlike the Rapidz owners) who has never spoken badly about them. Encourage Miles to step up to the plate one more time because there is a core of baseball fans here that can support a team in this league.

I think the city is willing to be reasonable in this. If they weren't, then they wouldn't have allowed Miles to take over the last 2 years of the Lynx lease with the strong implication that futher deals could be worked out if the team was successful. It is the Rapidz owners who are misrepresenting the facts. The Citizen has a good article that makes it easy to see who's to blame.

Personally, I don't care if the committment is for 1 year or more. Assuming we have a team next summer, we need as many people to attend as possible. It is not productive to say you won't support them if they only commit to being here for a year. You would have missed the last 4+ years of the Lynx with that attitude.

As another tidbit, two years ago the league ran the Grays travelling team. It had a much better record than the Rapidz did. I think that says a lot about how poor the Rapidz administration was, and it should remove any concerns about how competative the team would be if Miles ran it.

[summerfan]

For the most part I think the owners did a pretty good job this year in trying to get fans to the games. But I do not have all the facts & maybe they are the "bad guys" in all of this.

I have written to the City and to the League expressing my anger & disappointment. I have also noticed the League Web Site removed reference to the Rapidz.

I hope saner heads prevail. I hope the City is willing to negotiate reasonably & I hope either the League or new owners take over the team. But for me bringing a lame duck team back for one year only is definately not an option.

I think a team in this League has a chance to survive long term in Ottawa given half the chance. I hope Miles Wolfe can pull a rabbit out of the hat again.

I don't think the owners are bad gys at all.But i think there were treating this team like a major league baseball team.There had to many extras that weere not needed at a indy ball park while there nice there is no need for some of the stuff they had.I heard they were expected 8,000 plus crowds every night if this is true i think they were not 100% aware what indy ball is.

[Eddie]

I don't think the owners are bad gys at all.But i think there were treating this team like a major league baseball team.There had to many extras that weere not needed at a indy ball park while there nice there is no need for some of the stuff they had.I heard they were expected 8,000 plus crowds every night if this is true i think they were not 100% aware what indy ball is.

So because it's indy ball they shouldn't expect to do well? I have no real say in this whole ordeal but the LI Ducks draw over 6000+ right? Saints? T-Bones? Mallards?

If I was to take on a project like a team I would expect to do well. 8000 may be a little ambitious but I'd think I would aim for 5000 being that the park holds a boatload of people.

They moved into a park which had a lot of bells and whistles so to expect higher attendance then they had should be expected.

It's not the whole equation but a nice park where people feel comfortable and all that does help. You're not going to get people to go to a high school field in droves.

I haven't been to Ottawa in FOREVER but in the past they did draw. There must be a reason they were able to draw before and not draw in later years before they moved here to Allentown.

Could baseball work in Ottawa? I think it can. Just have to have the right owners and formula.

Just ranting...

Hate to see a team come in and be gone in a year, especially when there were issues surrounding a few other teams.

[summerfan]

So because it's indy ball they shouldn't expect to do well? I have no real say in this whole ordeal but the LI Ducks draw over 6000+ right? Saints? T-Bones? Mallards?

If I was to take on a project like a team I would expect to do well. 8000 may be a little ambitious but I'd think I would aim for 5000 being that the park holds a boatload of people.

They moved into a park which had a lot of bells and whistles so to expect higher attendance then they had should be expected.

It's not the whole equation but a nice park where people feel comfortable and all that does help. You're not going to get people to go to a high school field in droves.

I haven't been to Ottawa in FOREVER but in the past they did draw. There must be a reason they were able to draw before and not draw in later years before they moved here to Allentown.

Could baseball work in Ottawa? I think it can. Just have to have the right owners and formula.

Just ranting...

Hate to see a team come in and be gone in a year, especially when there were issues surrounding a few other teams.

Part of the issue is the stadium is run down it does need alot of upgrades.The first 5 years they did very well because the stadium was kept up and they were connceted to the expos.There is a difference between doing well and then expecting to much at this time.If they did spend the money to upgrade the park that would help out alot.

[OttawaBallFan]

I think most of us commenting here also post on Carl Kiifner's blog, but there are some more discussions over there. In case you don't know this excellent blog, its at www.canamottawa.wordpress.com

You may not also be aware of Moxie's Rapidz forum at www.rapidzfans.yuku.com where more discussions are taking place although it seems only between myself and Moxie.

[preeths]

The Rapidz will be operated by the Can-Am league in 2009. An announcement is scheduled for Wednesday, November 19.