The good news for the City is, it retained the right to approve all transfers.
Also,someone in one of the articles said the Memo of Understanding (Mou) was like a Lease, yes to a point, but by the Slammers LLC not actually working out a true lease for a defined number of years, the LLC probably doesn't have vested rental rights in the Stadium.
The City should listen to all interested groups, but be prepared to reset the clock if the proposals do not afford some reasonable payment for the Stadium. Also, the Frontier League has to honor its obligations under its franchise agreement with the Slammers LLC which hasn't been talked about, but its hard to image those obligations would "freeze-out" Joliet from receiving a new Franchise after a year or 2, if the City doesn't approve the sale currently being proposed by the Slammers. At the end of the day for any Indy Club to have a chance at being successful the owners group will have to make a significant up front investment in exchange for the opportunity to own the exclusive rights to Silver Cross. The City appears to be 0-2 so far, because they have accepted promises from LLC's.
Real money or real personal guarantees is what the City should be looking for, from that starting point they can negotiate lease amounts. If $100,000 a year is the best they can get, if it was an open bid process so be it.
Frontier League Changes??
[quote=""BoomerFan""]The suggestion of pre-paid rent was more for the benefit of any potential owners. If a group can actually show and bank money with the City, that's worth more than all the promises of all the other groups combined.[/quote]
That also raises another barrier to anyone thinking about placing a team in Joliet. What if no other group is willing to scale that barrier? There are limited options for the city. Is Silver Cross going to get an affiliated team? North American League? Can-Am? Atlantic League? The AA's in the neighborhood, but they come with increased costs, and they'd lose more money than an FL team. It would be nice for the city to get a big, fat deposit up front, but is it reasonable to expect one, much less demand one?
I don't fault the city for wanting to get what it can for the stadium's use. One downside to switching tenants, though, is creating the appearance of instability and thus undermining any tenant. No matter what the reason, some people will say, "The JackHammers are gone; the Slammers are gone; why should I bother with the new guys? It won't work, anyway." The city's had the ballpark available before, and the Slammers group was apparently the best option. It still probably makes sense to work with them to one degree or another.
That also raises another barrier to anyone thinking about placing a team in Joliet. What if no other group is willing to scale that barrier? There are limited options for the city. Is Silver Cross going to get an affiliated team? North American League? Can-Am? Atlantic League? The AA's in the neighborhood, but they come with increased costs, and they'd lose more money than an FL team. It would be nice for the city to get a big, fat deposit up front, but is it reasonable to expect one, much less demand one?
I don't fault the city for wanting to get what it can for the stadium's use. One downside to switching tenants, though, is creating the appearance of instability and thus undermining any tenant. No matter what the reason, some people will say, "The JackHammers are gone; the Slammers are gone; why should I bother with the new guys? It won't work, anyway." The city's had the ballpark available before, and the Slammers group was apparently the best option. It still probably makes sense to work with them to one degree or another.
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2 options: Remain FL or go AA
Realistically Joliet is only in the FL, AA or Midwest League foot print. According to Ballpark Digest the Cubs, Sox and Kane County would have to sign off on a MiLB PDC to go to Joliet, so affiliated ball in the Midwest League is not an option.
AA has a higher salary cap and more travel expenses, so the FL remains the best bet for Joliet.
The point is the Slammers by waiting until the last minute to try to sell and lay-off front office staff and manager to raise questions about the 2013 season might be attempting to force the hand of the City. The City can’t automatically go with the buyers and terms promoted by the outgoing Slammer ownership. If some other group can make a better offer, not promise, the City has to tell the current owners “no deal with your friends”, but talk to the group with the better offer. For the Slammers, if it really is an arm’s length business transaction the LLC should not care who they sell too. Trying to work out a long term lease in about 60 days is really ambitious, since as has been mentioned numerous times the Slammers never worked out a formal lease during the 2 years they operated in the park. Haste makes waste and often bad business decisions.
Finally, every time the suggestion is posted that owners have to do a better job to cultivate fans, invariably the reply is posted, “Minor/Indy leagues don’t operate based on fans, but by marketing group sales and to families looking for a cheap night out". If that’s true, presumably they won’t know or care who owns whatever home team is playing at Silver Cross. I don’t totally agree with that assessment, but it is doubtful the current Slammers have that much of a loyal fan base that would care if the City finds a better buyer this year or next year.
AA has a higher salary cap and more travel expenses, so the FL remains the best bet for Joliet.
The point is the Slammers by waiting until the last minute to try to sell and lay-off front office staff and manager to raise questions about the 2013 season might be attempting to force the hand of the City. The City can’t automatically go with the buyers and terms promoted by the outgoing Slammer ownership. If some other group can make a better offer, not promise, the City has to tell the current owners “no deal with your friends”, but talk to the group with the better offer. For the Slammers, if it really is an arm’s length business transaction the LLC should not care who they sell too. Trying to work out a long term lease in about 60 days is really ambitious, since as has been mentioned numerous times the Slammers never worked out a formal lease during the 2 years they operated in the park. Haste makes waste and often bad business decisions.
Finally, every time the suggestion is posted that owners have to do a better job to cultivate fans, invariably the reply is posted, “Minor/Indy leagues don’t operate based on fans, but by marketing group sales and to families looking for a cheap night out". If that’s true, presumably they won’t know or care who owns whatever home team is playing at Silver Cross. I don’t totally agree with that assessment, but it is doubtful the current Slammers have that much of a loyal fan base that would care if the City finds a better buyer this year or next year.
Last edited by BoomerFan on Fri Sep 14, 2012 2:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
a joliet owner ...
imo should have a track record of running a club well with consistency . the real woe here may be that joliet does'nt want class a indy ball and im not sure any owner can overcome that
