Overall Health of the League

[Silver Sox Fan]

As I preface every post, I am the new guy on the block. I don't know a lot about the GBL. Let me also put my bias out there. I love baseball and I am glad it is in Reno. Without it, I'm driving 2-4 hours to watch a team. So I am going to be an unabashed supporter of the league.

That being said, I read some of the older posts on this board and saw a lot of negativity regarding the health of the league. Just curious what some of your thoughts on the subject were as we close in on Opening Day.

How is the league doing in overall attendance, revenue, etc? Can we expect the GBL to be around for a while or has it peaked? What do you make of teams coming and going over the first 2 and almost three seasons? And how does the sale of the now OC Flyers affect your view of the league?

Again, I'm along for the ride either way since I am just happy we have a pro team in Reno. But I'd love to hear from some of you who have been around for a while and are more acquainted with the league.

[padsfan2]

Judging from the leagues response to your question, or lack of, they probably don't want to commit to an answer. However, let's revisit the last two years.

YEAR 1 There was excitement & enthusiasm, something new, the league had Rickey Henderson as a pawn to stick out there, and draw some really great crowds. I know here in San Diego, they had a great marketing stategy, we had give-aways, the ever popular Rickey Henderson bobblehead, player appearances, and most of all just a fun time at the games.

YEAR 2] Who knew what was going on? The league lost 3 teams, not sure, until a couple weeks before theseason started whether they were going to stay with the pitchers hitting or go with the DH, oops they chose the DH. They tried to draw crowds by parading around the biggest flop in baseball, Jose Canesco, oops, what a great roll model for our kids. Here in San Diego the marketing was horrible, only had giveaways towards the end of the season. It looks like I only went to the games for the promos, might be true, but when you are competeing against the Padres who are giving something away almost every week, well they help draw fans over to your side.

YEAR 3 San Diego is gone, replaced by St George. Sure I know save money by making the teams travel there, and spend money on accomodations, good move, NOT! They will probably parade around Pete Rose this year, lookout Reno!!

Well I need to get off my soapbox now. All in all it was a fun ride, just some bad decisions made last year, and unfortunatly they cost San Diego our team.

Good Luck in Year 3!!!

[aztlgrl]

Silver Sox Fan
I'm pretty new to these boards myself and reading back all I mainly see is negativity. I think a lot of people truly want to see the league succeed but have absolutely no problem pointing out, what they think, evey flaw is. I also noticed that at the very beginning, most posts said "Good luck making it to year two" and then going into year two it was "Good luck making it to year three" and again as we head into a third year we're seeing the "Good luck making it another year"...I can't wait to see the 4th year response.

Also I think that the comissioner would have no problem telling you how the league is doing. He's never shied away from responding here before.

I'm glad to see a fan such as yourself here..it's refreshing

[Silver Sox Fan]

That is some good feedback...and a good perspective.

The commish is good at responding so I will take his silence over the past couple of weeks to mean that he is busy getting the league set-up. So I don't take his non response as a bad thing as the post above you stated.

If they've have been saying this is the last year for the past three years then I guess we're in good shape to have the league around for a while!

[padsfan2]

We thought the same thing in San Diego!!!!

[Silver Sox Fan]

Pads Fan:

Can you give me some background on the whole stadium thing? The way I understand it, SDSU was basically trying to charge an outrageous price for the stadium use and it seems that they at least on some level may regret it.

Here in Reno, they have a 10 year lease and it seems like both parties are happy. University of Nevada Reno was one of two WAC schools (if a recall correctly) that did not have lights. Add to that that the weather trashed our field frequently and it is easy to see why UNR likes having the Silver Sox around since they invested a nice chunk of change ot fix those situations.

But I'd love to hear more about San Diego since I wasn't there. What were some of the issues that saw first hand that make you question the viability of the league?

Thanks

Keith