Indians done as plug pulled on minor league season

Indians vow to return in 2021 — but with who as a parent club?

The Spokane Indians’ 2020 baseball season ended before it even started.

The announcement Tuesday by Minor League Baseball and Major League Baseball that the 2020 minor league baseball season across North America was being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic was a blow to the Indians, the rest of the teams it plays in the Northwest League — as well as all minor league teams.

And though there’s talk of eliminating many minor league teams in the future, the Indians are confident they won’t be one of them.

“We can say confidently that we’re in a position where we’re going to figure out a way to weather this storm; we will be around for 2021 and beyond,” Indians president Chris Duff said Tuesday in a video conference. “But, there’s also going to be a lot of teams that aren’t in the same position the Indians are in.”

The Northwest League announced on June 12 that the 2020 season would be postponed indefinitely. The Spokane Indians’ opening day was originally scheduled for June 17.

The last time Spokane went a summer without baseball was in 1957. The Indians folded after completing two seasons as charter members of the Northwest League.

The Spokane Indians are the short-season Class “A” affiliate for the Texas Rangers — for now.

The Indians have been a popular draw at Avista Stadium over the years.

The Indians have set franchise attendance records in each of the last three summers, including surpassing 200,000 fans in the 2019 season. Spokane ranked second in North America and first in the United States for attendance among all short-season Class “A” affiliates.

“We’ve been preparing for a partial season, or no season, with our staff, for a few weeks now,” Duff said. “We saw the writing on the wall.”

In a statement released by Minor League Baseball, MiLB President & CEO Pat O’Conner said: “These are unprecedented times for our country and our organization as this is the first time in our history that we’ve had a summer without Minor League Baseball played. While this is a sad day for many, this announcement removes the uncertainty surrounding the 2020 season and allows our teams to begin planning for an exciting 2021 season of affordable family entertainment.”

“Today is a sad day for the indians, and for all of minor league baseball in general,” said Otto Klein, Spokane Indians senior vice president. “But at the same time, we’re dealing with something that’s bigger than all of us.”

Change to the structure of minor league baseball could come as soon as next season. The current collective bargaining agreement between the owners and players is set to expire in 2021.

Talk is that major league teams may want their affiliates geographically closer to them, leaving Spokane to perhaps try to align with a major league team on the West Coast.

“We’re not only dealing with the virus situation, we’re also dealing with one of the largest negotiations of our industry’s history, at the same time,” Duff said. “Between the PBA (Professional Baseball Agreement) and the virus, I think a lot of teams are in really challenging situations, but everybody’s being creative.”

O’Conner said more than half of the 160 minor league teams were in danger of failing without government assistance or private equity injections.

The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, the minor league governing body founded in September 1901, made the long-expected announcement. The minors had never missed a season.

“We are a fans-in-the-stands business. We don’t have national TV revenues,” National Association president O’Conner said during a digital news conference. “There was a conversation at one point: Well, can we play without fans? And that was one of the shortest conversations in the last six months. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

O’Conner estimated 85-90% of revenue was related to ticket money, concessions, parking and ballpark advertising. The minors drew 41.5 million fans last year for 176 teams in 15 leagues, averaging 4,044 fans per game.

MLB teams are planning for a 60-game regular season and most of their revenue will derive from broadcast money.

“I had a conversation with the commissioner, and we weren’t unable to find a path that allowed us to play games,” O’Conner said. “It wasn’t an acrimonious decision on our part.”

O’Conner said many minor league teams had received money through the federal Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act.

“That was a Band-Aid on a hemorrhaging industry,” he said. “Many of our clubs have gone through one, two, maybe three rounds of furloughs. In our office here, we’ve had varying levels of pay cuts between senior management, staff, and we’ve furloughed some individuals, as well, and are just about to enter in a second round of furloughs.”

He hopes for passage of H.R. 7023, which would provide $1 billion in 15-year federal loans from the Federal Reserve to businesses that had 2019 revenue of $35 million or less and “have contractual obligations for making lease, rent, or bond payments for publicly owned sports facilities, museums, and community theaters.”

In addition, the Professional Baseball Agreement between the majors and minors expires Sept. 30, and MLB has proposed reducing the minimum affiliates from 160 to 120.

“There’s no question that what the pandemic has done is made us somewhat weaker economically,” O’Conner said. “I don’t think it’s challenged our resolve. I don’t think it’s impacted our desire to stick together and get a good deal.”

There have not been substantive talks for about six weeks.

“There are very many teams that are not liquid, not solvent, not able to proceed under normal circumstances, and these are anything but normal circumstances given the PBA and the uncertainty of the future for some of these ballclubs,” O’Conner said. “So I think the coronavirus has really cut into many clubs’ ability to make it. And I think that we’re looking at without some government intervention, without doing something to take on equity partners, you might be looking at half of the 160 who are going to have serious problems.”

MLB already has told clubs to retain expanded 60-player pools, of which 30 players can be active during the first two weeks of the season starting in late July.

Conner said the financial impact of the pathogen might extend until 2023.

“As serious as the threat from Major League Baseball was,” O’Conner said, “this threat from the coronavirus, it transcends any list that anybody wants to make with respect to the possibility of teams not being around in the future.”

The Indians said they have contacted ticket package holders and STCU Gold Glove Members about the status of their current ticket packages.

Information: spokaneindians.com