Osiris Matos.......

From today's New London Day:

Norwich gets to take the first step in the potential sale of the Connecticut Defenders Monday when the City Council votes to assign the existing lease on Thomas J. Dodd Memorial Stadium to a Richmond, Va., group, but expect a summer of brisk transaction activity once that is done, one team official said.
The council Monday will consider a resolution to transfer the stadium lease from the existing owners of the minor league AA Defenders to Richmond Baseball Club LC. The resolution requires that “as of the effective date” of the lease transfer the city must be paid in full all “sums accrued and billed.” That total is now $363,689, according to a calculation by city Deputy Comptroller Josh Pothier given to the Baseball Stadium Authority Wednesday.

The authority did not discuss the pending lease transaction, however. Chairman Michael Jewell said the authority would concern itself with the day-to-day operations and leave the lease and team transactions to the City Council. Using rent revenues, the authority handles stadium upgrades, renovations, utilities and some services, including the $46,494 it must pay for last season's police coverage.

Team and city officials called the lease assignment the necessary first step in what could lead to a flurry of activity that sends the Defenders to Richmond, Va., after the 2009 season and brings a new short-season Class A team - likely from the New York-Penn League - to Norwich for the 2010 season.

Team attorney Glenn Carberry said Wednesday “things could happen fast” after Monday's vote. The Defenders hope to close on the sale to the Richmond group before the April 8 start of the 2009 season.

Carberry said strict baseball rules prohibit him from discussing any specific plans to bring a Class A team to Norwich, but such a move is in the works.

Timing of both transactions will be tricky and will require approval by high officials in Minor League Baseball, Major League Baseball, the Eastern League, where the Defenders play, and the New York-Penn League.

Eastern League President Joe McEachran said if baseball officials do approve the sale, his league would want a solid plan for a new stadium in Richmond or major renovations to the rundown Diamond, where the team would play temporarily at first.

Bryan Bostic, the Richmond businessman trying to buy the Defenders, did not return phone calls this week, and declined to comment on the possible transaction in a

story in Wednesday's Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Pete Boisseau, a spokesman for the Richmond group hoping to win city approval of a new stadium as part of a major downtown redevelopment plan, said the group should have a decision by Ricmond officials before Aug. 1. If that decision is “no,” he said the group would work on a contingency plan. But while others say renovating the Diamond is an alternative, Boisseau said that is not feasible, especially while the team is playing there.

Carberry said it's possible the Defenders could stay in Norwich in 2010 if stadium construction or renovation in Richmond is delayed, and that in turn would hold up plans to bring a Class A team to Norwich.

”All this will play out over a period of months,” Carberry said.

OK well, either (A) we get a single A team in 2010, (B) no single A team in 2010, or now maybe (C) another season of Defs baseball in 2010 which turns into (D) a single A team in 2011 and then (F) no single A team in 2011.