Thoughts and pictures of my local minor league baseball team the New York Penn League Connecticut Tigers; a Detriot farm team. We'll still be looking at former Navigators/Defenders players along the way....

Friday, August 31, 2007

In today's New London Day:

Norwich

It was late in the afternoon Thursday, the last day in 2007 when Dodd Stadium was open for baseball, and there was Lou DiBella on the concourse with his dog, Chaplin, in tow. Chaplin, a rat terrier which Lou described as a “Jack Russell with satellite dish ears,” was really only looking for food. His dad, meanwhile, had his cell phone affixed to his right ear, listening to the final, painful, pitches of his Mets' meltdown in Philly.

“Let's go upstairs,” DiBella told an inquiring mind, who was there to talk about an encouraging season for the team he owns, the Connecticut Defenders.

And so DiBella, Chaplin and the inquiring mind headed to Lou's Lounge, an oasis next to all the skyboxes, with DiBella, and not Chaplin, barking. DiBella, nothing else if not a show unto himself, was bothered by some of Willie Randolph's managerial decisions.

DiBella sat down and spoke before he was asked a question.

“Well,” he began, “I'm very happy with my staff. Attendance is up. I'm very happy with my G.M. (general manager Charlie Dowd). He's an adult. He has ties to the community that were reflected in his ability to renew some relationships that had gone sour in recent years.”

DiBella admitted that the Defenders didn't make money in 2007, punctuating that with “and that's not good enough.” But he also acknowledged that things with the local Double-A baseball outfit are markedly better in Aug. 2007 than Aug. 2006.

Attendance, which will be somewhere around 195,000 showed a 15 percent increase, the largest single season increase in the history of the franchise. DiBella said that concession income is up as well.

Think about that: A franchise whose product looked to be swirling the bowl last year in an obscure ballpark with a baseball product on its fifth straight losing season actually reversed a trend — declining attendance — here in the Land Of Steady Habits.

That might elicit a yawn from the masses.

But anyone who has lived here long enough, with all the self-proclaimed experts about everything, should know there's reason for optimism.

“In previous years, a lot of what I said was spin. All spin,” DiBella said. “Not anymore. A lot of the crowds this year I liked. I'm comfortable with the direction right now. It's a very good job by our staff.”

Here's where the franchise stands: The Defenders can opt out — buy their way out, actually — of their agreement with Norwich that lasts through 2012, after the 2009 season. But if attendance and other revenue streams increase in the next two summers they way they did in 2007, the Defenders would be profitable, DiBella said.

But can that happen?

The Day's web site ran a question recently entitled, “Why don't you go to Defenders games?” There were an impressive number of responses, about 80 percent of which mentioned one of two factors:

The ballpark's location and a lack of interest in the San Francisco Giants, the parent club.

“I love the stadium,” DiBella said, “despite not loving the location.”

Translation: There's nothing they can do about being at the top of an industrial park.

Part Two of that, however, is something the Defenders must consider. The Giants have one more year here. After that, the Defenders ought to do everything possible to bid them a rousing “arrivederci.”

While it's true that attendance began to swan dive with the Yankees here, there was far more buzz about the erstwhile Navigators, because there was either a Soriano here or a Cone/Strawberry rehabilitation stint.

Most of the fans who watch the Defenders root for the Yankees or Red Sox. They have no attachment to the Giants, who play most of their games after bedtime.

And so if the Defenders could at least attract an American League franchise, the people here would have some familiarity. What they've got right now is five years of teams that lose 2-1 too much, five years of baseball that has been more boring than chemistry class.

The future of the franchise is tied to perpetually increasing attendance and attracting more and different advertisers. DiBella said, for instance, that while Mohegan Sun has been “a great friend to us,” he needs Foxwoods to renew the level of commitment it once had. At least the Defenders have something encouraging to sell.

There's not much more depressing than a ballpark closing for the season. But to think where the Defenders were a year ago at this time and where they are now ...

As DiBella said, it's not good enough. But it's a whole lot better.

This is the opinion of Day assistant sports editor Mike DiMauro. He may be reached at m.dimauro@theday.com or 701-4391.

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

so what is your opinion greg?

do you think an al franchise would draw more fans?

neither the yanks nor the sox are gonna come back to norwich.

as a giants fan, i wouldnt cry if norwich opts out of being part of the giants family, but unless they change the park configuration to allow for more offense, i cant see any franchise drwaing significantly more people

nice that the reporter didnt take early season bad weather into the attendence picture, nor the fact that promise of constant pitcher's duels does not excite a fan base.

6:40 PM

 
Blogger thehondohurricane said...

I'm gonna reply to this, but I'm giving Perez a day or to to come up with his season ending histrionics so I can address both at the same time. BUT, this whole theory about the Giants being too far away, having no local fans, or whatever excuse you want to manufacture is a bunch of garbage. You only have to look a little north as evidence. When the Red Sox left New Britain, how many Twins fans do you honestly believe lived in that area? They draw in excess of 300K every year and I don't think there are that many Twin fans in Minnesota.

And to Bacci40, get off the park issue. I'll bet you have never seen it, much less attended a game there. Do you think the parks in the "Bigs" are all bandboxes? Have you ever considered the difficulty of hitting to right field in the Phone Booth? Get off the ball park and start worrying about the crappy players the Giants keep sending here.

8:01 PM

 
Blogger mdeep04 said...

Greg knows I'll cry if the Giants leave. That's my team right there. I watch all of em! Or listen. lol ... MLB, AAA, AA, A, all four. So if they leave, I'm stuck forcing my body on a weird sleep schedule to listen to games. But I'm moving to Cali either for college, or after college anyway. so if the team leaves, I'll catch up with them. lol

Hey greg, were you there for the awards ceremony yesterday? Do you know who got MVP and stuff? I was going to go but it was a school night.

10:20 PM

 
Blogger greg8370 said...

vonschell28--I was standing in line exchanging a voucher and missed it. Good question however and I don't see mention of it on the team web page or the two newspapers.

10:34 PM

 
Blogger greg8370 said...

Hi bacci40--thanks for the kind words in your other post.
My opinion? I love minor league baseball. I'm a Yankee fan but I used to drive up to New Britain two or three times a year to watch the Red Sox Double A team play at the old BeeHive park just to watch a game because it was a good time, a good experience. When the New Haven Ravens started up in '94 I went to games there too.
When a team landed nearly in my back yard in '95 plus being a Yankee farm team it was a dream come true. The Yankees brought just a great buzz with them.
But you know since the affilations changed in 2003 I've gone to more games per season with the Giants than the Yanks. Why? These are my guys, my hometeam team and I love going up there more and more. It doesn't really matter to me that they're baby Giants. I go for the night out, see friends, take pictures etc.
Does it drive me crazy the Giants haven't given us a plus .500 team in five years or made the playoffs just once? Yes.
Do the Giants as an organization drive me crazy? Yes, and as a Yankee fan that carries weight.
But after five years of watching baby Giants I do want a change after the 2008 season. It really doesn't matter who but I think the Marlins are up for grabs. They gave Portland some great teams back in the day so I'd lean towards that. The overall SF talent pool is just too shallow for me.
Will they draw more fans? I really like the current front office group. They have a year under their belt; they listen. Can they coax it up to 225K next year. Might be tough given the front loading of games in April and May in 2008 but I'm hopeful.
The fences? Sounds like they're coming for next season.

11:20 PM

 
Blogger thehondohurricane said...

Awards were:

MVP Bowker
Starting Pitcher Gino E
Defensive player Trey
Community Service Dobson
Relief Pitcher Anderson
Most exciting Velez

Think that's all of them. Wonder why EME or TI were ignored?

8:41 AM

 
Blogger greg8370 said...

they live on in our hearts

10:23 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

greg,

i respect your opinion

and no matter who is playing in norwich, i will continue following your blog

i too love milb, and because in live in socal, i am within an hour of some great parks, and catch at least 10-15 games per season

(if any of you get out here, you gotta check out the park in rancho cucamonga....great place)

i understand your and other fans feelings about how the giants have treated you....

its another one of the reasons i wanted sabean fired

fresno spoke up....and they got a winning team this season (and wouldve gone to the playoffs had they had a better road record)

maybe if your owners and you fans raise holy hell, sabean and the org will listen and send over a better group (you should see more power next year...coming from augusta and sj)

9:30 PM

 

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