New Downtown Baseball Stadium, AAA Club, and Associated RE Development

[C0|dB|00ded]

Oh sure... that is why all the larger cities have AAA while coyote nowhere cites have AA

We're not a larger city. When I told somebody we had AAA coming to town they were like, "No way!". They were right.

We barely passed a 15k seat downtown arena. It took every ounce of sweat blood and tears from some great Wichitan's and that middling thing just squeaked by. And of course we built it with no possibility of expansion... The surrounding metros are laughing their asses off at us.

Everybody wanted a polished cow palace. Maybe they could have bronzed the urinal troughs. I can still smell that Britt Brown musk and feel the golden droplets accumulating on my hands. Ahhh the memories.

[Veritas]

Wichita really needs to start being more progressive. It’s ridiculous the lack of population growth Wichita has had in the past 20 years compared to Tulsa, OKC, Omaha, and even the Des Moines metro areas.

AA... what a joke!

[SHOCKvalue]

You will most likely see better prospects from the AA squad anyway. AAA is where over the hill players go to play out their twilight years. Much prefer AA. Plus, the Twins have a good organization.

Hardcore pro baseball peeps might prefer AA due to talent, but literally everyone else would prefer AAA. The huge majority of folks in a seat at a baseball game are the latter. Different set of peer cities.

Sad day for Wichita, but honestly it's hard to keep track of them all. At some point you just become numb to the underwhelming nature of this town and shrug your shoulders as to what happens here. I lay my head here at night, make a living here, have friends and family here, and I love the Shocks, but LOL at everything else with this place.

Potential bright spot might be finding a different damn name/mascot.

[ArtVandalay]

As a baseball fan, I'm happier with AA over AAA. It is very much a fact that your best players do not play AAA. For reference, when we were the AA affiliate of the Royals, some of the best prospects the Royals had played here before going straight to MLB. Carlos Beltran, Johnny Damon and Alex Gordon all played AA in Wichita before bypassing AAA Omaha and joining the MLB club. Injuries at the MLB level might result in you seeing those guys at AAA for rehab (as Damon and Gordon saw a few games in Omaha for rehab), but you rarely see your organizations best players play AAA for more than a few games.

So, I guess Wichita's ego might take a bruise from only having AA ball, but the baseball will truly be better and likely cheaper than AAA.

[Veritas]

As a baseball fan, I'm happier with AA over AAA. It is very much a fact that your best players do not play AAA. For reference, when we were the AA affiliate of the Royals, some of the best prospects the Royals had played here before going straight to MLB. Carlos Beltran, Johnny Damon and Alex Gordon all played AA in Wichita before bypassing AAA Omaha and joining the MLB club. Injuries at the MLB level might result in you seeing those guys at AAA for rehab (as Damon and Gordon saw a few games in Omaha for rehab), but you rarely see your organizations best players play AAA for more than a few games.

So, I guess Wichita's ego might take a bruise from only having AA ball, but the baseball will truly be better and likely cheaper than AAA.

... and less attended, less interest, less revenue, and less prestige. Nice going...

[RoyalShock]

Ugh. And a league rival to the Royals. This sucks.

[ShockerDropOut]

Although I wish we were getting a AAA team, a AA affiliate of the Twins is not a bad get. The Twins have generally had a quality farm system and currently are considered top 10. I personally like AA better since that is where the top prospects tend to spend the most time before being called up to the big club. Each person has their opinions, but I am only mildly disappointed.

That the Twins being a rival of the Royals makes things interesting to me. I will support the Wind Surge in every game, except when they play the Naturals.

[SubGod22]

I, and many friends and family, were excited to be able to watch the Storm Chasers come to town a few times a year. Everyone is a little less excited for the Naturals, but I'm sure we will still go at least a few times when they're in town.

When we were a Marlins affiliate, most of us felt more likely to catch random games not involving Omaha, but feel we're less likely to spend our time and money on a Twins affiliate. Maybe we're in the minority with that thinking, but for those of us that are more diehard Royals fans, supporting a rival organization is less exciting than the Marlins who we were more indifferent about. I'd feel the same about an affiliate of the White Sox, Tigers, Indians or Cardinals.

[Shock Top]

Too bad it could have been the Royals Double A, or a more historic club’s affiliate.

Cardinals, Tigers, Cubs, White Sox are all close teams with deep history. If they could lock one of them down in a couple years, that would be golden.

(Yes, I know two are division rivals to the Royals, and the Cardinals are considered rivals as well, but I am looking more at pulling power of the organization then anything.)

[SubGod22]

Too bad it could have been the Royals Double A, or a more historic club’s affiliate.

Cardinals, Tigers, Cubs, White Sox are all close teams with deep history. If they could lock one of them down in a couple years, that would be golden.

(Yes, I know two are division rivals to the Royals, and the Cardinals are considered rivals as well, but I am looking more at pulling power of the organization then anything.)

I will give you that the Cardinals do have a lot of fans in this area and would do well in that regard. I still wouldn't go to games unless they were playing a Royals affiliate, but they would pull better generally than the other teams/rivals you listed.

I will also give you that average baseball fans that don't care about the affiliation will go regardless, as long as they're competitive. When it comes to diehards around here the Royals reign Supreme and I still don't see most of them supporting a rival.

[Shock Top]

I will give you that the Cardinals do have a lot of fans in this area and would do well in that regard. I still wouldn't go to games unless they were playing a Royals affiliate, but they would pull better generally than the other teams/rivals you listed.

I will also give you that average baseball fans that don't care about the affiliation will go regardless, as long as they're competitive. When it comes to diehards around here the Royals reign Supreme and I still don't see most of them supporting a rival.

I agree. Royals would be the number 1 choice. How much longer are they committed to NWA?

However, I see the teams I listed as being able to be more competitive beyond the minor league level than the Twins; due to FA, $$$, etc. That could translate to people becoming interested at the lower level.

Basically, do you think Tulsa would draw the same number of fans to the Double AA team of the Rockies as they do as the Dodgers? I don’t know their attendance numbers, but to me it just feels like Dodgers would have more pull to bring people in. Maybe I’m way off.

[SubGod22]

It's hard for me to say how that would go with attendance. I'm a Royals fan, and regardless on how they're doing in KC, if they have intriguing MiLB talent coming thru I'm very interested because I like looking at the future in that regard. Hell, back in the day I used to create a thread on here that followed the Royals farm system at all levels and kept the other fans updated on the prospects and others. I remember pimping Merrifield when nobody considered him a prospect.

But I know I'm different. And the Royals have a number of young prospects right now that I look forward to keeping tabs on.

So I'm not sure how the average fan in Tulsa would react to the differences between the Rockies and Dodgers.

[pogo]

Always been a Braves fan (first Milwaukee and then Atlanta) probably because when I was young the Milwaukee Braves had a team here. I remember my most valued article of clothing was a T-shirt that looked like a game jersey. Also a National league fan (because they play it without the designated hitter/pitcher which is the right way by the way) The Cardinals or Cubs would be nice.

[ShockTalk]

Always been a Braves fan (first Milwaukee and then Atlanta) probably because when I was young the Milwaukee Braves had a team here. I remember my most valued article of clothing was a T-shirt that looked like a game jersey. Also a National league fan (because they play it without the designated hitter/pitcher which is the right way by the way) The Cardinals or Cubs would be nice.

Spahn, Sain, and Pray for Rain (although I don't believe Sain ever pitched in Milwaukee). How could one not like the Braves with Spahn and Aaron. Two of the very best!!

A story, that few would believe today, was the marathon pitching dual between Spahn (in his 40s) and Juan Marichal (early in his career). Both pitchers threw a complete game into the 16h inning (yes, I said 16th). Spahn lost the game when Willie Mays hit a solo HR in the bottom of the 16th. Another story about that game, is that when the manager came out to talk to Marichal about coming out of the game, he refused by saying something like: You know how old that guy is? If he can stay in, nobody is taking me out of the game.

[pogo]

Found out several years later that my mother had gone out with Del Crandell while he was playing minor league ball here. Always looked at my mother with a little more awe after that.