Aviators grounded

It seems that the Rockford Aviators are no more.

Rockford apparently played its final game as a member of the Frontier League when it lost a wild-card playoff game Tuesday night at Traverse City.

Word out of Rockford is that the owner of the ballpark, Northside Community Bank, has reached an agreement with Rockford Baseball Properties to have the latter take over the lease beginning Oct. 1. Rockford Baseball Properties owns two ballparks in Wisconsin that host Northwoods League teams. A source told me last week that Rockford will join the Northwoods League next year. It's manager will be a pitching coach who is currently employed by a Frontier League team.

http://www.wifr.com/home/headlines/A-New-Team-May-be-Slated-for-Aviators-Stadium-325850091.html

Rockford was last in the Frontier League in attendance this year and the league had to take over its day-to-day operations late in the season. The dagger for Rockford came this year when Wild Things ownership filed suit against KME Sports & Entertainment, which had a management contract with the Aviators. Because of the lawsuit, commissioner Bill Lee ruled that KME's contract violated the league's bylaws because KME owner Mike Zimmerman owned teams in another league. Without financial backing from Zimmerman, the Aviators had no future. The full story on the Wild Things vs. Frontier League and KME Sports can be found in a July 12 post on this blog.