The Class AAA Pacific Coast League, in recent years one of the most stable components of Minor League Baseball, will likely be a key element of change in the minors’ coming reaffiliation period.
Major and minor league teams are allowed to seek new affiliate partners each September in even-numbered years, and the 2014 period beginning Tuesday is expected to produce at least a dozen changes overall, in line with the last three cycles. But the PCL, a league that saw only three total switches in the last two cycles, could see as many as five this time around.
PCL teams in Nashville, Albuquerque, Fresno, Oklahoma City and Sacramento could all see new major league partners before the reaffiliation period ends Sept. 30. The factors in each situation vary.
Oklahoma City, most recently a Houston Astros affiliate, is thought to be nearing a deal in which Peter Guber, part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and chief executive of Mandalay Entertainment, would buy the club from Mandalay’s sports division and turn the affiliation to the Dodgers. Los Angeles has been aligned with Albuquerque since 2008, and was previously affiliated with the organization from 1963 to 2000.
Mandalay is selling the Oklahoma City RedHawks as part of a divestiture of its baseball holdings.
Sacramento, meanwhile, is eyeing a new partnership with the San Francisco Giants, attracted by the potentially greater marketing possibilities with the Bay Area’s more popular club after many years with the Oakland A’s. A move there would open the Giants’ current Class AAA affiliate in Fresno. And Nashville, set to open a new $65 million ballpark next season, is considering a possible switch from its partnership with Milwaukee to go along with that facility opening.
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Fresno’s Class AAA PCL club is affiliated with San Francisco, but Sacramento is interested in a partnership with the Giants.
Photo by: AP IMAGES
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As the affiliated minor leagues have taken on greater importance in terms of player development, marketing, and sources of media content, the reaffiliation periods have also become more prominent. Many major league clubs use the process to group their minor league affiliates in tighter geographic clusters, yielding benefits with regard to marketing, travel, and in some cases, joint ticket and sponsorship sales.
Teams are forbidden from discussing the process until affiliation deals are done, with confidentiality provisions backed by fines. But Minor League Baseball President Pat O’Conner said the state of the working relationships between the senior executives of the partner clubs continues to grow in importance.
“Facility and geography are always going to be important factors in this process, and deservedly so, but teams are also really looking for good, solid partnerships,” O’Conner said. “‘Does the other club share our particular philosophies? Are they good people to do business with?’”
