Clueless - UPDATED

You would think that the editor would have the sense to call up someone colleagues like Darren Desaulniers or Don Campbell to discuss this first. 

Let’s play ball

The Ottawa Citizen

Monday, January 21, 2008

Opportunities to get a Triple-A baseball franchise don’t come along very often so the City of Ottawa should jump immediately on this one.

Mayor Larry O’Brien is a great salesman, after all he convinced Ottawans to elect him despite having never held political office, so it is time for him to show what he can do. It is possible the Toronto Blue Jays will be without a Triple-A affiliate at the end of next season as Syracuse, the home of its present farm team, is considering adopting the New York Mets.The Jays are our local major league team and have incredible marketing muscle and resources. We have one of the best minor-league baseball parks around and a professional sports market. People watch the Jays here and a similar synergy with the Expos in the early ’90s produced an International League attendance record.The Ottawa Lynx were never sold very well to Ottawa’s business community or the public. The Jays know how to market baseball and have fan identification for their players and brand in this market. A Jays farm team in Ottawa would boost the major-league club’s TV ratings in Ottawa and provide a source of revenue for the Jays if the team were owned outright by Toronto. That would give the Jays an interest in marketing the team here. As well, moving players between Toronto and Ottawa is very easy with superb air links.The mayor should be on the phone today with the Jays arranging a meeting between him, the baseball club, some councillors and city staff to explore this option. This kind of opportunity occurs but once or twice in a lifetime. Let’s not lose a chance to properly use the $15-million taxpayer-owned ballpark on Coventry Road.

The Ottawa Blue Jays. It has a nice ring to it.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008

This will not come to pass - for various reasons, but chiefly due to the fact that TORONTO DOESN’T OWN THE SYRACUSE CHIEFS!  I thought that the idea had been sufficiently shot down recently, but I guess the editor doesn’t read blogs.  Emailer Joe sums up the situation:

They are a community owned team. If the Blue Jays want their Triple A affiliate in Ottawa, someone would have to buy a AAA franchise and move it to Ottawa, then the Blue Jays would have to sign a PDA with them. Or the Blue Jays could buy a team themselves I suppose and move them to Ottawa.The Richmond Braves situation is different in that they are owned by the Atlanta Braves. They can do whatever they like with the team. Moving it is apparently what they’re going to do after many failed attempts at a new ballpark.The Chiefs are looking to switch affiliations, to the Mets from the Jays, not move to Ottawa. They have been a community owned team since 1961. The Blue Jays do not own them.Good Lord.  This is an obstacle which the fledgling Can-AM team didnt’ need.  And I’m sure that the Lynx and Kyle Bostwick will be flattered when they hear that “(t)he Ottawa Lynx were never sold very well to Ottawa’s business community or the public”!

Gotta go - if only to resume banging my head against the wall.

(Cross posted to the Can-AM and “full disclosure” blogs.)

*** UPDATE ***

*** UPDATE ***

Sorry - I forgot to include acknowledgements for tipping me off to the editorial.  Tip of the hat (or “hat tip”, HT) to Jean-Pierre Allard and Pete Toms for alerting me to the story.

Thanks to Neate for posting up over on the Can-AM blog as well.  (He posts up on the issue over at Out of Left Field as well.)