Northern League changes decision on T-Bones promotion
June 27, 2005 - Northern League (NL) News Release
The Northern League of Professional Baseball announced today that it will not approve the Kansas City T-Bones original concept of the CompUSA Ultimate Baseball Challenge that is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 16.
Northern League Commissioner Mike Stone has decided that a regulation nine inning game must be played between the T-Bones and Schaumburg Flyers that evening at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. The interactive electronic gaming element will take place outside the context of the regular game.
"The Northern League has always been known for original and innovative promotional events, and we commend the creativity of the Kansas City T-Bones in launching this concept," said Commissioner Stone.
"However, after further review and discussion, I have decided that this concept as originally presented is not in the best interest of the Northern League. Any promotion that could affect the outcome of a regular season game is not permissible. Ultimately, such an event could have an influence on the final standings, and this certainly challenges the integrity of the league."
Kansas City and Schaumburg will play a regular game beginning at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday, July 16. The CompUSA Ultimate Baseball Challenge will follow. Two electronic gamers using a Microsoft Xbox and the CommunityAmerica Ballpark video board will begin replaying the T-Bones-Flyers game in the top of the eighth inning. The T-Bones plan a number of special activities around the Ultimate Baseball Challenge.
"While we don't agree with this ruling, we will certainly abide by the Northern League's decision," commented Kansas City T-Bones General Manager Rick Muntean. "It will be interesting to see if the Ultimate Baseball Challenge results in a different outcome than the regular game."
The original concept presented by Kansas City called for the two electronic gamers to play the first two official innings of T-Bones-Flyers game. The score after those two innings would count as the two teams took the field and finished the game.
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