and move to Florida

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/mudcats/story/8784532/

Quote :

"Report: Carolina Mudcats to be sold, Zebulon to field single-A team The Pensacola News Journal is reporting that the Carolina Mudcats, the Double-A franchise of the Cincinnati Reds, will be sold to Florida businessman Quint Studer and moved to Pensacola, Fl. Mudcats owner Steve Bryant is under a gag order from the Southern League, but did tell WRAL Wednesday night "I will own a team that will play at Five County Stadium as long as I can afford to do it." The report in the Pensacola News says that current Mudcats ownership is in negotiations to bring a Single-A team to Zebulon, but Bryant would not confirm that. The move for the Double-A franchise to Florida would not take place until the 2012 season."

12/16/2010 12:28:26 AM

WHO OWN DA CHIEFS MUDCAT

12/16/2010 1:27:30 AM

12/16/2010 1:41:02 AM

let's be honest though. how many of us have actually been to a Mudcats game? I've lived here for over a decade now, and I'm a huge baseball fan, but I've never been to Five County

12/16/2010 7:01:28 AM

^ Me and A LOT of people especially in the eastern wake/joco area

12/16/2010 7:58:07 AM

average attendance:

2008 - 3,545
2009 - 3,277
2010 - 3,188

12/16/2010 8:11:50 AM

that actually doesn't seem that bad. getting 3,000 fans a game on average is a lot higher than i would have thought.

12/16/2010 8:15:30 AM

baseball-reference.com tricked me. those are actually the average attendance figures across the Southern League

i'm having a tough time getting Mudcats-specific numbers

12/16/2010 8:17:52 AM

^^seems comparable to the marlins lol

12/16/2010 8:18:11 AM

The Kinston Indians were sold and are now going to move to Zebulon to take their place

http://www.enctoday.com/news/indians-70315-kfpress-kinston-moving.html

12/16/2010 8:22:20 AM

Quote :

"how many of us have actually been to a Mudcats game?"

I went all the time as a kid.

12/16/2010 8:28:41 AM

Quote :

"let's be honest though. how many of us have actually been to a Mudcats game?"

I've been to more mudcats games than durham bulls games, and I live in durham.

12/16/2010 8:29:24 AM

maybe my thinking is askew, but i see this as one of those "OMG I'm so mad that Sylvia's closed! I haven't been there in 4 years."

12/16/2010 8:33:42 AM

ok in all fairness, the owner's son is a good friend of mine, and they give us free tix anytime we want to go.

12/16/2010 8:39:13 AM

i went to a game this july 4th (good firework show btw).

They played really well. The stands we're packed. No empty seats.

12/16/2010 8:42:29 AM

Quote :

"let's be honest though. how many of us have actually been to a Mudcats game? I've lived here for over a decade now, and I'm a huge baseball fan, but I've never been to Five County"

really, with all the brothers we had working there, you never went? I have been to several games out there (not as many as I have bulls games), and I wouldn't call myself a big baseball guy at all

12/16/2010 8:56:56 AM

yeah but July 4th games are packed at every level of every sport... I'm pretty sure the Fayetteville Swampdogs set their attendance records every single July 4 and then get like 10 people the rest of the year

I've been to one Mudcats game and the attendance was okay but that was a few years ago. Nice little ballpark but I don't make it out that way much

12/16/2010 8:57:07 AM

yeah, i never went on a holiday and attendance was alway meh... but always had a good time! (especially drinking in the parking lot)

12/16/2010 9:04:22 AM

Fuck the mudcats. Bulls FTW!

12/16/2010 9:30:59 AM

We need a pro team in downtown raleigh

12/16/2010 9:43:26 AM

pro or pro?

12/16/2010 9:57:41 AM

we need a bro team in downtown raleigh

it left town when jillian's closed

12/16/2010 10:05:47 AM

You know that there are MiLB rules that prevent there from being a downtown MiLB team, right?

So it looks like I get to see the Mudcats play here in Salem next year. That's nice. Sad to see the Indians go, but Kinston barely fits the profile of a Rookie ball city, and there's no way they could play in the Appalachian League.

Quote :

"we need a bro team in downtown raleigh it left town when jillian's closed"

I don't live in Raleigh anymore, but I'm pretty sure Buckhead fits this bill.

[Edited on December 16, 2010 at 11:40 AM. Reason : .]

12/16/2010 11:39:28 AM

Quote :

"You know that there are MiLB rules that prevent there from being a downtown MiLB team, right?"

Winston and Greensboro have downtown stadiums

12/16/2010 11:50:40 AM

thought that closed too

but i see that:

Quote :

"[You] don't live in Raleigh anymore"

12/16/2010 11:50:59 AM

isn't the DBAP pretty damned close to Durham's downtown?

12/16/2010 12:00:08 PM

the Greenville Drive play close to their downtown in SC

12/16/2010 12:04:31 PM

haha "pretty close"

that shit IS durham's downtown

12/16/2010 12:04:37 PM

Sure is downtown. Right off of the Durham Freeway. Part of the American Tobacco District. Right next to the Durham Performing Arts Center. Down the street from the county courthouse.

... and across the street from the county jail. I don't know what idiot thought putting a huge jail in the middle of downtown was a good idea.

12/16/2010 12:27:04 PM

LET'S GO TOPES!

12/16/2010 12:32:34 PM

He wasn't referring to there literally being a rule that says teams cannot locate downtown (lol), but that downtown Raleigh falls within the territory of the Durham Bulls (I think?).

12/16/2010 2:07:52 PM

Burlington and Winston are just as close to Greensboro as Durham is to Raleigh

12/16/2010 2:12:32 PM

MiLB in downtown Raleigh would be awesome.

12/16/2010 2:13:17 PM

My bad. I totally wrote that sentence wrong.

There cannot be a team in downtown Raleigh, because it is too close to the already-established Durham Bulls.

MiLB teams must be a certain distance apart, and in order to have a team in the Raleigh area, they had to put the Mudcats in Zebulon.

As for Burlington/Greensboro/W-S, it's about 25 miles from downtown Raleigh to the DBAP, whereas its about 25 miles from Burlington Athletic Park to First Horizon Stadium...hmmm, maybe it's a newer rule and these teams got Grandfathered in because they've been there so long (I know the Burlington Indians/Royals have been in existence since the 1950s at least)

I can't find the exact rule, but I know I've heard of it before in relation to why the Mudcats are in Zebulon.

[Edited on December 16, 2010 at 4:00 PM. Reason : /]

12/16/2010 3:52:19 PM

pretty sure they're within a mile of the minimum distance

12/16/2010 4:10:34 PM

Bring minor league hockey back to Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Asheville, and Roanoke.

12/17/2010 2:54:57 PM

I've never been to a Mudcats game. That's a helluva drive for something I don't care about on a minor league level. I go to 4-5 Bulls games a year but it's really just for atmosphere and chilling with friends.

12/17/2010 8:42:21 PM

thirsty thursdays at mudcats games are awesome

12/17/2010 9:06:45 PM

Quote :

"I don't know what idiot thought putting a huge jail in the middle of downtown was a good idea."

I think it's a pretty good idea if the downtown you are talking about is downtown durham.

12/17/2010 9:22:59 PM

The more I think about it there is a lot of upside to this move and was a no brainer on the owners part. The current league (Southern league) that the Mudcats are in consists of teams that are mostly in TN and AL, Zebulon is a hop from those places. In 2012 the Mudcats will be single A but playing in the Carolina league with close to home teams (Myrtle Beach, Winston-Salem, Wilmington) as well as teams from Virginia. The thing that I love the most is that they are keeping the Mudcats name,logo, etc., which in my opinion is the coolest name and logo in the whole minor league system.

Article stating pretty much what I just said.



http://www.wralsportsfan.com/mudcats/story/8792464/

12/17/2010 11:43:14 PM

sucks for kinston

i love their old ballpark

12/17/2010 11:56:14 PM

^ I have never been there, really would like to see it one time. I think my favorite ballpark in this whole state is the one in Wilson, went there once when State hosted a regional when Doak was being upgraded...you just can't help but think of the Bull Durham movie when you go there.

12/18/2010 12:15:09 AM

That's Wilmington, DE, not Wilmington, NC.

Wilmington NC does not have an affiliated minor league team.

12/18/2010 12:37:46 AM

^ thanks for pointing that out...now the North and South divisions of the Carolina league make sense to me now, I thought it was odd that Wilmington is in the north division and Salem is in the south....the other Wilmington never crossed my mind

12/18/2010 12:46:05 AM

I used to go to a lot of Mudcats games when I was a kid because my grandparents lived in Knightdale and my best friend lived in Wendell. I went to one last summer...they've done a good job keeping the facilities current.

Also, I have considered getting an Albuquerque Isotopes tattoo on a number of occasions.

12/18/2010 5:29:48 AM

Quote :

"I think my favorite ballpark in this whole state is the one in Wilson"

Fleming Stadium .... they had some major renovations in the 90s

http://mysite.verizon.net/charliesballparks/stadiums/wilson.htm

12/18/2010 9:45:41 AM

I'm gonna miss the kinston Indians. You used to be able to buy a plastic pitcher of beer and drink straight out of it in the stands. It always led to go times. I hope they bring that to the mudcats.

12/19/2010 2:04:54 PM

The who?

12/19/2010 2:09:22 PM

Quote :

". The thing that I love the most is that they are keeping the Mudcats name,logo, etc., which in my opinion is the coolest name and logo in the whole minor league system. "

sorry, your opinion is wrong.

montgomery biscuits FTW

12/19/2010 2:21:21 PM