Minor league baseball is as much a part of the sports culture in our state as ACC basketball.<\/b>
\nPosted June 30, 2020 5:20 p.m. EDTUpdated June 30, 2020 6:02 p.m. EDT
By Joe Giglio, WRAL multimedia sports journalist
Sometimes you just have to point out the obvious: the decision to cancel the minor league season on Tuesday wasn\u2019t good for baseball.
It wasn\u2019t good for the Durham Bulls (owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company, which also owns WRALSportsFan, WRAL-TV and sports radio stations 99.9 FM The Fan and The Buzz) or the Carolina Mudcats or any of the 10 other minor league teams affiliated with Major League Baseball in the state of North Carolina.
Minor league baseball is as much a part of the sports culture in our state as ACC basketball.
\u201cThe only thing that makes today easier is that we\u2019ve been expecting it for awhile,\u201d Bulls vice president Mike Birling said on Tuesday. \u201cThe finality of it definitely hits home.\u201d
The decision, due to health concerns over the COVID-19 crisis, was beyond anyone\u2019s control.
For once, you can\u2019t blame MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. It’s not an offshoot of the lingering labor issues that have plagued the sport these past few weeks, either.
This was about the pandemic and the inability to sell tickets and bring fans into stadiums.
\u201cAttendance drives everything for us,\u201d Birling said. The Bulls have drawn more than 500,000 fans in each of the past six seasons.
There is no television contract to float minor league teams like there will be for the MLB and its planned 60-game sprint of a season.
The decision could be viewed as a symptom of the reported organizational shakeup coming to minor league baseball \u2014 as many as 40 of the 160 affiliated teams on the Single A, Double A and Triple A levels could potentially be eliminated, according to a New York Times report.
\u201cThis is strictly related to COVID,\u201d Birling said. \u201cThe complications in dealing with different states and different rules are really hard.\u201d
There are nine different states in the International League alone. Throw in the economics of travel, and it would have been a losing proposition for the Triple A teams who don\u2019t have to pay the players\u2019 salaries (the MLB teams do) but do pay for the players to travel.
Baseball is a distraction for most of us in the Triangle. We are lucky to have the options that we do. This will be the first time since 1979 the Bulls won\u2019t play a season.
Even when MLB has had labor issues, as it did in 1994, the minor league show has found a way to go on.
\u201cWe\u2019ve always been able to survive the ups and downs,\u201d Birling said.
But not this summer. The Bulls will hold a movie night at the DBAP on July 4. They\u2019re showing \u201cCaptain America.\u201d
That will have to suffice for the usual slice of Americana the ballpark provides.
In the announcement that the season would not happen, Birling said, „The DBAP is a place where hundreds of thousands of new memories are made each season and to realize that won’t happen in 2020 if difficult. We here at the Bulls are heartbroken to not be able to host you for Bulls games this year and are already counting down the days until next year’s opening day.“
Like a true baseball lifer, Birling is already looking ahead to next season.
\u201cOne thing I will say in talking to our people, they are already excited for \u201921,\u201d Birling said. \u201cWe are going to pull out all of the stops to make it that much more enjoyable for our fans.\u201d<\/p>\n