R.I.P. Mount Rainier and East Coast leagues
Starting an independent baseball league is not easy. Keeping the league running is almost impossible.
We've seen examples of these truths this spring as two independent leagues that were planned for 2015 debuts have been put on the independent scrap heap with such long-lost circuits as the Western Baseball League, the United Baseball League, the Northern League, the South Coast League and many others.
Gone are the Mount Rainier Baseball League and the East Coast Baseball League. We hardly knew 'em.
The East Coast League, which was to have teams in the United States and Canada, apparently died before playing a game. It was to have player salaries ranging from $500 to $850 per month. Nothing has been posted on the league's website since March, when a story about league officials visiting Johnstown appeared. One ECBL team wrote on its Facebook page last month that "due to unforeseen clerical issues, the East Coast Baseball league has been forced to postpone all games until further notice."
The Mount Rainier league -- based in the Pacific Northwest -- actually did start playing games but it folded quickly. Below are a few stories about the death of the Mount Rainier. What I found most interesting in the stories is the league's commissioner, Mike Greene, has a master's degree in sport and fitness administration/management from California University of Pennsylvania, and that it would have taken a half-million dollars to operate the league but it was about $450,000 short of that total.
After reading these stories, you'll have an appreciation for what the Frontier League has been able to become.
http://flatheadbeacon.com/2015/06/02/two-weeks-into-season-professional-baseball-team-prepares-to-call-it-quits/
http://www.dailyrecordnews.com/members/pro-baseball-likely-over-in-ellensburg/article_d93bddd4-088a-11e5-ac1d-937157fb4544.html
http://missoulian.com/sports/catch-all/fledgling-mrpbl-glacier-outlaws-near-folding/article_39d2f41d-be48-5fbf-8cb5-a57aa22e55a5.html
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Gone are the Mount Rainier Baseball League and the East Coast Baseball League. We hardly knew 'em.
The East Coast League, which was to have teams in the United States and Canada, apparently died before playing a game. It was to have player salaries ranging from $500 to $850 per month. Nothing has been posted on the league's website since March, when a story about league officials visiting Johnstown appeared. One ECBL team wrote on its Facebook page last month that "due to unforeseen clerical issues, the East Coast Baseball league has been forced to postpone all games until further notice."
The Mount Rainier league -- based in the Pacific Northwest -- actually did start playing games but it folded quickly. Below are a few stories about the death of the Mount Rainier. What I found most interesting in the stories is the league's commissioner, Mike Greene, has a master's degree in sport and fitness administration/management from California University of Pennsylvania, and that it would have taken a half-million dollars to operate the league but it was about $450,000 short of that total.
After reading these stories, you'll have an appreciation for what the Frontier League has been able to become.
http://flatheadbeacon.com/2015/06/02/two-weeks-into-season-professional-baseball-team-prepares-to-call-it-quits/
http://www.dailyrecordnews.com/members/pro-baseball-likely-over-in-ellensburg/article_d93bddd4-088a-11e5-ac1d-937157fb4544.html
http://missoulian.com/sports/catch-all/fledgling-mrpbl-glacier-outlaws-near-folding/article_39d2f41d-be48-5fbf-8cb5-a57aa22e55a5.html
posted by Chris Dugan at
9:14 AM
3 Comments:
With the low attendance the WildThings have had, I could very well see this happening here to. I wouldn't be surprised if the Rebellion also folded. 123 heads (someone actually counted) at Monday nights game. Hardly enough revenue to pay the staff.
What Moron decided to bring back the Rebellion? Oh, never mind! Did anyone ever hear the term, "You can't even give it away"?
Speaking of "giving it away"! Really ticks me off when Stu Williams gives these huge discounts during the season to people that don't even care about the WT. The people that regularly attend games or hold season tickets, or partial season ticket holders get NO rebate of any kind.
As for the Rebellion; different game - same old crap. A VERY poor product presented by the same owner as the WT. The entire organization looks like a gigantic hoax. There is no way on God's green earth that, with the situation as it now is, that this can be anything but a money loser. Wonder if the PA Attorney General should not be looking into this and find out where the money is coming from to continue operations. Have any of you ever noticed how many year round full time employees
the WT have? Unless these people are working for minimum wage and all the free ballgames they can stomach, I don't see how their wages can be coming from revenues received from baseball operations. Just wondering.
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