By Jon Weisman
The Oklahoma City RedHawks will succeed the Albuquerque Isotopes as the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate, the team has officially announced.
Previously affiliated with the Houston Astros, Oklahoma City plays in the American Northern Division of the Pacific Coast League. The Dodgers had been affiliated with Albuquerque for a total of of 44 years (1963-71 Double-A, 1972-2000 Triple-A and 2009-2014 Triple-A).
“We are excited to work with President & General Manager Michael Byrnes and his outstanding staff, who have been a very integral part of the community,” Dodger president and CEO Stan Kasten said. “We enjoyed a great relationship with the Albuquerque organization and its fans, but the opportunity of franchise ownership was one we couldn’t pass up.”
Agreements between the Dodgers and their affiliates with Single-A Great Lakes and Rancho Cucamonga and short-season Ogden have already been extended. An announcement on the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliation is expected later today.
The Dodgers have reached an agreement with Mandalay Baseball Properties on the purchase of the RedHawks. Subject to closing conditions including the approval of the PCL and Minor League Baseball and the review of the MLB commissioner’s office, the purchase is slated as a partnership in which Dodger co-owner Peter Guber will be the executive chairman and managing director of the team and partners Paul Schaeffer and Larry Freedman will manage the operations of the company.
“I am thrilled to be partnering with the Dodgers in the Oklahoma City franchise and am looking forward to an exciting future for the enterprise,” Guber said.
Guber, Schaeffer and Freedman have long held similar roles as principals with Mandalay Baseball Properties, which purchased the Oklahoma City franchise at the end of the 2010 season. Magic Johnson was a founding partner with MBP in the Dayton Dragons franchise of the Midwest League, which was recently sold for a record sale price after selling out every home game in its 15-year history and holding the record for the most consecutive sellouts in North American sports at more than 1,050.
“The Los Angeles Dodgers look forward to making Oklahoma City our long-term home for our triple-A franchise,” said Dodgers’ President & CEO Stan Kasten. “We are committed to the great sports fans and the great city of Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City’s home field is the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark its home in 2015. The RedHawks are one of two teams in Triple-A baseball to record increases in attendance each of the previous four seasons.
Said Oklahoma City mayor Mick Cornett of the new arrangement: “This is a prestigious ownership group with a lot of options for their franchise. We’re honored that they’ve decided on the Brick in Oklahoma City, one of the top minor league ballparks in America.”
Team officials including Kasten, Guber, Tommy Lasorda, Lon Rosen and DeJon Watson are appearing at a press conference in Oklahoma City today.
oldbrooklynfan
Good luck in Oklahoma City. I wonder if they are already planning on returning to Albuquerque soon. It seems like they always go back there after a few years. Are we sure the name RedHawks won’t be changed to “BlueHawks”?
northstateblues
Don’t know much about the business aspects of this, but two thoughts:
1.) Albuquerque has always loved the Dodgers, was sad to see the Dukes go (but understood the business aspect of leaving a stadium that didn’t have a paved parking lot in the mid-90s), and though altitude was always a problem in scouting power hitters that would work at sea level, it’s kinda shocking to see the Dodgers move so soon after Albuquerque renovated the stadium. As well as practically ceding longtime Dodger turf to another team in their division, the Rockies, who are probably moving into Albuquerque once the Dodgers leave.
2.) With the Giants likely leaving Fresno for Sacramento, why not hold off on this announcement and consider growing the Dodgers’ fan territory well into the central state? When the Dodgers moved their single A affiliate from Bakersfield, they left their northern friends high and dry. Oklahoma City doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, moving the team farther out from LA. Why not wait a few weeks and move to Fresno, where the Sea Level is 308 ft to OKC’s 1,201, showing a more accurate vision of a player’s power, and also moving the fanbase to the center of the state?
After reading the news about the Sacramento RiverCats changing affiliation from the A’s to the Giants, I thought that if the Dodgers weren’t in Albuquerque, I thought a move up to Fresno would be a no-brainer. Reading this, I’m kind of shocked that the team would miss this opportunity to tighten its grip on its (massive) home state.
thebuck1267@aol.com
Check this out…
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