GBL continues to fish for Kamloops investor(s)

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
Like a deep-sea fisherman going back and forth over a particular section of once fruitful waters, the Golden Baseball League continues to look for an investor for a Kamloops franchise.
According to Peter Young, a GBL spokesperson in Calgary, a deal with an investor fell apart over the summer.
“It’s so unfortunate that it dragged on the way it did,” said Young, who was in Kamloops during the summer to negotiate a lease with the City for NorBrock Stadium. “At one point I thought it was a slam dunk and it would be a model franchise in the league.”
No one is prepared to identify that investor, other than to say he wasn’t from the Kamloops area. And now, Young said, the GBL is back on the hunt.
“For one investor to do it on his own,” Young said, “once you negotiate the franchise fee schedule, and the league can be flexible depending on the strength of the investor, it’s probably . . . a $400,000 up-front investment.”
Young admitted that figure might be “a bit misleading” because an investor would have to be ready to foot the bills “until you start selling tickets and corporate sponsorships.”
“It’s certainly not an astronomical number for someone who wants to get involved,” Young said.
Byron McCorkell, the City’s director of parks and recreation, said he has had some potential investors kick the tires, but “we haven’t had anyone of late.”
“We’ve had a couple of guys who are representing people who have been dealing with the Golden league,” McCorkell said. “We’re dealing through the league. I think the league is very serious about locating a team here, but what is it going to take to do that? That’s their call.”
McCorkell added that a lease has been “agreed to with the league but it would obviously be up to whoever was assuming a team to complete the deal.”
With franchises in Edmonton and Calgary and another in Victoria, the GBL would love to have one located in Kamloops, which could serve as a stopping off point for teams going in either direction.
“Canadian teams could use another travel partner, so there’s definitely interest in adding the city,” Young said. “But it’s difficult to add the city when you don’t have that perfect investor ready to do it.”
Young said GBL executives Kevin Outcalt, who is the commissioner and chief marketing officer, and Dave Kaval, the president and CEO, “believe it’s a winner’s market.”
As you might expect, what with the leaves changing colour and warnings of snow on the Coquihalla, time is becoming of the essence.
“We delayed the (final) schedule until February (2009),” Young said, noting that the league wanted to make sure all was well with Victoria and also was looking to put a team in Tijuana, Mexico, something that ultimately didn’t happen.
Young also noted that a local operator “would want to have an office open by the first of the year so, realistically, that would be a drop-dead date.”
In the meantime, the GBL has expanded into Hawaii — the team will play out of the War Memorial complex in Wailuki on Maui — and may yet end up with another franchise in Arizona.
The 10-team GBL now is into Alberta, B.C., Arizona, California, Utah and Hawaii.
“The league is growing by leaps and bounds,” Young said. “It is getting interest from as far away as Ottawa. I think it’s probably going to be the premier independent league, if it isn’t already.”
One of the things that gives the GBL a leg up on others is that it doesn’t have rules limiting the number of experienced players its teams may use. The Northern League, for example, limits teams to four veterans, a veteran being a player with AA or AAA experience or who has been a professional for six seasons.
According to Young, the Calgary Vipers, who won the GBL’s 2009 championship, had 15 veterans on their final roster.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
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