WINNIPEG Goldeyes fans will have just five choices on the menu this season and in the foreseeable future, unless club founder Sam Katz and his Northern League cronies can resurrect a league that has taken another blow.
The NL announced Friday that franchises in Calgary and Edmonton were no longer members and it will put out a six-team schedule for the 2008 season.
After years of expanding, the league has seen nothing but contraction over the past three years, going from 12 clubs in 2005 down to its current six.
Calgary Vipers owner Jeff Gidney and Edmonton Cracker-Cats owner Dan Orlich did not participate in Friday's league conference call.
"The decision was yanked away from us. We had a 4 p.m. Friday deadline and we hoped (Calgary and Edmonton) would accept our proposal. Instead we received a letter from their lawyers in Toronto claiming all kinds of foul deeds," said Northern League commissioner Clark Griffith, who had ordered the Alberta clubs to post $500,000 letters of credit to be included in the 2008 schedule.
"A few hours prior to the conference call it was posted on the Vipers website that they had left the league.
"We'll play as six. It won't last for long. We'll be the most attractive league out there. We'll be sought after."
The Vipers and Cracker-Cats spent three seasons in the Northern League and left on Friday citing "irreconcilable differences." Griffith had this to say to fans concerned with having to watch the same five visiting teams over and over all summer.
"It's true the league has changed. Losing the first four teams a few years ago was unfortunate and it appears expanding into Alberta was also unfortunate," offered Griffith. "But we're down to the essential six. We're stronger than we've ever been. We have six great owners, six great parks and six teams that average 4,600 fans a game. I'm excited about it. It's a strength for us, not a weakness. I actually like it."
Life in the Northern League has never been boring but it's about to become a whole lot more exciting in the boardroom and at the same time, much more mundane on the field.
With franchises in Winnipeg, Gary, Ind., Fargo, N.D., Schaumburg, Ill., Joliet, Ill. and Kansas City remaining, the league has a very large geographic footprint.
The future of the league has to be labelled uncertain. The remaining six owners claim solidarity but that union will be tested next summer as teams battle to entertain customers, compete on the field and attract players to a shrinking league and an increasing number of hours on the bus.
Katz was firm in the belief his team and the league will go forward.
"Number one, the Winnipeg Goldeyes will continue to provide the quality family entertainment we have since Day 1," said Katz, quoting the party line. "We'll work to give fans the best sports entertainment value we can. That hasn't changed. I've always said it doesn't matter the number of teams in the league, but the quality of teams. Having said that, I would like to see the Northern League grow again to eight or 10 or however many teams."
The league plans to play a near-balanced 96-game schedule which would see each club meet one another in the neighbourhood of 20 times. The format of the schedule, a split-season or otherwise, as well as divisions and playoff qualifiers, remains undecided.
For the Goldeyes such a schedule would see them play close to 30 games in the Chicago area, 10 in Kansas City and 10 in Fargo.
Fargo manager Doug Simunic has been in the league since it returned in 1993 after a 20-year hiatus.
"It's what's going on," said Simunic. "We'll have to make the best of what we have. It's a lot of travel, hopefully we can play some four-game series and they'll need some more off days for travel. Players will still come to this league. It's still a good league.
"The facilities, from the fields to the clubhouses to the stadiums are all good. I'm planning on putting a good product on the field, Rick Forney will do the same in Winnipeg and so will the rest of the managers in this league."
gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca
The Northern League expanded into Alberta in 2005, introducing the Calgary Vipers and Edmonton Cracker-Cats.
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