GBL in Kamloops?

From The Daily News of Saturday, Oct. 27, 2007 . . .

It’s fair to say that Mayor Terry Lake was cautiously optimistic after meeting Thursday with officials of the Golden Baseball League.
The eight-team independent league, which now has franchises in Calgary and Edmonton, is exploring the possibility of putting a franchise in Kamloops for the 2008 or 2009 season.
“They certainly are enthusiastic,” said Lake late Thursday night, moments after touching down in Victoria. “They were very impressed with Kamloops, with NorBrock Stadium and the Tournament Capital facilities in general.”
Lake met and toured facilities with three men from the GBL — CEO and founder Dave Kaval, commissioner Kevin Outcalt and Calgary Vipers president Peter Young.
“It was very optimistic from their point of view, so we’ll see where we go from here,” Lake said.
The GBL entourage left Kamloops and headed for Saskatoon to check things out there. With the addition of Calgary and the Edmonton Cracker-Cats, the GBL would like to have a four-team Canadian division and, with that in mind, is looking at Kamloops, Kelowna, Saskatoon and Victoria.
And the way Lake looks at it, Kamloops, for starters, has a leg up on Saskatoon.
“Saskatoon is the right size population,” Lake said, “but (the GBL group) said their facility doesn’t even compare to ours.”
Lake said the GBL trio was most impressed with NorBrock Stadium.
“As I said, there’s probably no better place to be in the world than at NorBrock Stadium on a summer night with a cold beer watching baseball,” he said.
“They said our facility is just outstanding. They would like to see more seats but that would come with time. They think there’s nothing really inadequate about it at this point that couldn’t be dealt with.”
The GBL next will communicate with Byron McCorkell, director of parks and recreation services, and see where things go from there.
“They’ll have to follow up with Byron and his group to see how feasible it is in terms of scheduling,” Lake said. “One thing that is always important to us is that we ensure our user groups have adequate facilities, that we don’t shut them out.”
Lake also said that, despite the short window of opportunity, there was talk of getting things moving in time for the 2008 season which is to begin in mid-May.
“They seemed to think there was (enough time),” Lake said. “They’ll have to go over the nuts and bolts with Byron and his group.
“But we’ve got the facility and we’ve got that attitude . . . so if any place can do it in a short time it’s Kamloops.”
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca

About the Golden league:

a The league played its first season in 2005. In 2007, the Chico, Calif., Outlaws won the six-team league’s championship, beating the Long Beach Armada 3-1 in the best-of-five playoff final after a 76-game regular season.
a The Samurai Bears, featuring players who all were born in Japan, played in the 2005 season but folded afterwards. The Bears didn’t have a home park, so played all their games on the road.
a CEO and co-founder Dave Kaval is the author of The Summer That Saved Baseball, a book he wrote after a 1998 baseball journey in which he and a friend visited all 30 major league ballparks in 38 days. Kaval has a BA and an MBA, both from Stanford.
a The league is based in the Silicon Valley of California and many of its excecutives made their fortunes there. Commissioner Kevin Outcalt provided the league with its first $1 million. James C. Peters, the chief operating officer, kicked in $1.5 million.
a Pat Sajak, host of the TV game show Wheel of Fortune, was one of the GBL’s initial investors.
a James Denton, who plays Mike the Plumber on the TV show Desperate Housewives, owns a piece of the Orange County Flyers.
a Another investor is California venture capitalist William (Boots) Del Biaggio III, whose name has been associated with attempts to purchase various NHL franchises.
a The league’s proper name is Golden Baseball League, presented by Safeway. Late in 2004, the California-based supermarket chain signed a three-year, $3-million deal for naming rights.
a The Calgary Vipers and Edmonton Cracker-Cats joined the GBL earlier this week following a dispute with the Northern League.
a Former major leaguers Rickey Henderson and Jose Canseco have played in the GBL.
a Annual operating costs are said to be around $1 million per franchise.
a Quote: “Minor league baseball is $5 tickets and $3 beers. It’s team mascots and the stuff that goes on between innings.” — Kaval, to The New York Times.
SOURCES: SABR-Zine, The New York Times.