Report: Rockford, Joliet to Frontier League

According to the website ballparkdigest.com, the Rockford RiverHawks will be returning to the Frontier League in 2011 and will be bringing the up-for-sale Joliet JackHammers with them.

Rockford and Joliet were two of the four teams remaining in the Northern League earlier this month after half of that league switched to the American Association. The idea of the Northern League continuing as a four-team circuit appears to be dead.

These moves would leave two former Northern teams, the Schaumburg Flyers and Lake County Fielders, without a home.

Rockford's return to the Frontier League would seem easy, considering the RiverHawks spent eight years in the FL before switching to the Northern League for the 2010 season. Joliet's move is more complicated. The JackHammers are up for sale. Joliet City Manager Tom Thanas, who is working on the sale as the lease holder of the ballpark, has been in contact with two potential buyers. Thanas told WJOL Radio there will be a Frontier League team in Joliet next year.

One group that is reportedly interested in buying the Joliet franchise is headed by former Chicago Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas. My guess is whoever buys the team won't pay the JackHammers' debt to the city but will pay off vendors who are owed money. Thus, the Frontier League team in Joliet won't be named the JackHammers.

The chances of Schaumburg and Lake County joining the Frontier League appear to be slim. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Flyers owe the city of Schaumburg more than $903,000 for use of its stadium and tens of thousands more to vendors.

The fate of Lake County remains a mystery. The Fielders, who were a Northern League expansion team last season and are partly owned by actor Kevin Costner, had problems with the construction of their ballpark and began the year as a traveling team. The Fielders are managed by former Frontier League player and manager Fran Riordan.

The report by ballparkdigest.com conflicts a report by Schaumburg TribLocal that quoted Northern League commissioner Clark Griffith as saying "We're not going to be four teams. We’re going to be six or eight."

Four turn down Frontier League

According to ballparkdigest.com, the eight-team Northern League split today with four teams joining the American Association and four others (Joliet, Lake County, Rockford and Schaumburg) turning down an offer to join the Frontier League. The remaining four teams also spurned an offer to join their former rivals in the American Association.

The four remaining teams -- each located in Illinois -- will comprise the new Northern League and the its commissioner will seek expansion opportunities. According to the website, there are financial reasons for the two teams to remain in the Northern League -- it's seen by some owners as the best way to preserve franchise values at a time when Joliet and Schaumburg are up for sale -- and some logistical arguments to running a league in which all four teams are in close proximity, which cuts travel costs. As mentioned in an earlier post, Joliet and Schaumburg are deep in debt.

I'm not sure how you can run a league with only four teams. Four teams is not a league. Heck, it's not even a division.

So, for now, a 16-team Frontier League in 2011 is not a possibility. It will be interesting to see if the four-team Northern League even makes it to opening day, and you can be sure the Frontier League will be watching.