If professional baseball returns to Ottawa in 2014, there’s talk the double-A franchise would have some big-name backers..
On Wednesday, the Ottawa Citizen reported the entertainment company owned by Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan is “believed to be” negotiating through Beacon Sports Capital Partners, a Needham, MA-based investment bank specializing in professional sports, to own a minority stake in the proposed Eastern League franchise, set to be begin play in 2014.
In September, Beacon Sports reached an agreement in principle with the City of Ottawa to lease and renovate Ottawa Stadium.
The name of a potential majority owner for the Ottawa franchise has yet to surface, but Beacon Sports COO Richard Billings told the Citizen in September a local component of the ownership group will not involve the Ottawa Senators or the group bringing CFL football and pro soccer to Ottawa.
Ottawa City council is expected to vote on final approval for the lease deal sometime this month.
The proposed renovations to Ottawa Stadium would include a new scoreboard, reduced seating capacity from the current 10,000 to 8,000, and upgraded locker rooms.
It would also include a clause allowing the new tenant to rent out the space for other events, including concerts.
Ryan-Sanders Entertainment currently owns the triple-A Round Rock Express (Texas Rangers) and the double-A Corpus Christi Hooks (Houston Astros).
Whataburger Field, home of the Corpus Christi Hooks, was voted the top minor league venue in both 2008 and 2009.
Billings told the Citizen Wednesday he is confident a deal will be finalized soon.
“I strongly believe that the City, the Eastern League, and the Ottawa community will be extremely pleased with the final outcome of what has been nearly 18 months of work by everyone involved,” he said. “While this has taken longer than everyone had hoped, I believe that the City and the Eastern League’s best interests have been served by the deliberate and careful approach that has been undertaken to ensure the success of this project over the long term.”
Also on Wednesday, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told the Ottawa Sun that the team would ideally be affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays.
“To have the Blue Jays affiliation is not only good for us, it’s good for the Blue Jays,” Watson said. “At the end of the day, we’re the second-largest city in Ontario. They’ve drawn on Ottawa fans to go to games. It makes it a lot easier sell for tickets and marketing.
“The Blue Jays, when I’ve talked to them and I’ve had a number of discussions with them, they see this as a good deal for them as well.”
In May, the Blue Jays signed a two-year contract with the Eastern League’s New Hampshire Fisher Cats running through the 2014 season.
The Blue Jays partnership with New Hampshire goes back to 2004 and is the longest-running non-club-owned affiliate in the organization.
In September, Eastern League president Joe McEacharn told the Ottawa Citizen he will bend league rules preventing members from renegotiating their existing contracts with major league teams ahead of their expiry dates in 2014.
“We want this to be a win, win, win for everyone involved and we want to ensure success in Ottawa,” McEacharn said. “But at the present time, I’m not prepared to discuss which team will be moving or which major league affiliate will be there.”
Also in September, the Blue Jays announced a new triple-A affiliation with the Buffalo Bisons beginning in 2013. Toronto had been aligned with the triple-A Las Vegas 51s of the Pacific Coast League since 2009.
Over the course of their affiliation with Las Vegas, the Blue Jays had routinely avoided sending their pitching prospects to the hitter-friendly PCL, oftentimes holding them back at New Hampshire before being promoted to the big leagues.
With their triple-A team now in Buffalo, that will no longer be the case and it’s not known how, if at all, the affiliation with the Bisons will impact Toronto’s relationship with New Hampshire.
