The 10th season of
baseball at AutoZone Park arrives four weeks from Friday (April 3rd), when the
Redbirds host the first of two exhibition games with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Perfect time for a late-winter hot-stove chat with Redbirds president Dave
Chase.
MEMPHIS FLYER:
After extending the affiliation between the Redbirds and St. Louis Cardinals,
the parent club showed some interest in purchasing the Redbirds. What were the
dynamics of those discussions, and why did the Cardinals choose to leave the
table?
DAVE CHASE: The
Cardinals spent a significant part of last summer and fall kicking the tires
down here. They made a strong commitment by extending our player development
contract for four years; they recognize Memphis as an important market to sell
Cardinals tickets. Of course, the economy went south, and we were unable to
provide them with projections they were comfortable with going forward. Around
Christmas, they notified us that they were no longer interested in buying the
team, at least not as the marketplace stands now.
MF: Are the team
and the ballpark part of the same package for a potential buyer?
DC: The ballpark
comes with a tremendous burden of debt, and no one is going to want to take that
on. The ownership of the ballpark right now is in the [nonprofit] Redbirds
Foundation, and that complicated the deal, there’s no doubt about it. We need to
separate the team and the stadium at some point, somehow, to make the economics
work.
MF: Are the
Redbirds, in fact, for sale?
DC: We need to
consider selling the team, and that’s part of the ongoing mission. Who knows? If
the economy turns the Cardinals could come back, or a local group could step
forward, or someone else willing to make a commitment to the city of Memphis.
MF: Is the
operation of the ballpark and team here in Memphis safe?
DC: The Pacific
Coast League wants to play in Memphis, a lot of the long-term contracts in place
require Triple-A baseball [here]. In reality, if you make the right combination
of decisions in ownership, it strengthens baseball’s position in Memphis. It
doesn’t weaken it.
MF: What kind of
impact has the economy had on operations at AutoZone Park?
<>DC: It’s
frightening, on some levels. These are unprecedented economic times. Baseball in
general is concerned. Teams in the PCL are experiencing downturns in ticket
sales anywhere from 15 to 25 percent, and we’re on the higher end on that scale
now. With our 10- and 30-game plans, we’ve actually seen a modest increase in
sales. Our corporate sales are down about 12 percent. But we’re seeing this
across the universe of baseball. It’s not because people don’t like us or
appreciate AutoZone Park. It’s just that we’re easy to cut. They’re having to
make difficult decisions. A lot of people are just playing the waiting game, but
now that March is here, the time for waiting is almost over.
It would have
helped us tremendously if the Cardinals had been more active in the offseason.
When they get headlines, it helps us. It would help us if the daily newspaper
would run the traditional spring-training pictures of pitchers and catchers
working out. We have two Cardinal exhibition games [April 3rd and 4th] that
should help us prime the pump.
MF: The season
once again opens under a cloud of steroids, with the Alex Rodriguez revelations.
Is attendance at AutoZone Park affected by news at the big-league level?
DC: I don’t think
it directly impacts us. I believe in the power of the industry of baseball in a
huge way. This kind of news puts the game in a negative light, in general.
Fortunately, most fans don’t equate those big-league guys with us [in the minor
leagues]. It resonates deeper in baseball, because we care about the game so
much. You can’t tell me the steroid problem in football is any better. It’s
probably much worse. We take our [baseball] heroes seriously. We put A-Rod on a
pedestal we probably shouldn’t put human beings on. I just finished reading Joe
Torre’s book, and you quickly learn that A-Rod’s not among the brightest guys on
the planet. There are probably 200 stories in spring training that would better
advance the game of baseball.
MF: Let’s talk
about this year’s Redbirds roster. Who are some players Memphis fans should be
excited to see this season?
DC: It’s too early
in spring training to get much from the Cardinals, but I hope we get David
Freese back for part of the season, but it looks like he may start the season at
third base in St. Louis. Colby Rasmus will be on a similar ride. We didn’t get
to see the real Colby Rasmus last year [due to injuries]. I think Brett Wallace
will start the year here, especially if Freese stays in St. Louis a while. He’s
not much on the glove side, but that was the same rap we heard on Albert Pujols.
We need a few more of those kind of guys! Wallace made a pretty big impact at
Class A last year, and that’s the same jump Freese made last season. Wallace was
here as part of the Cardinal Caravan and he handled himself well.
The Cardinals have
the most questions on their pitching staff. That will have a ripple effect on
us. Trying to speculate on whether Mitchell Boggs or Mike Parisi will be back
here is anyone’s guess.
MF: The Cardinals’
farm system has moved steadily up the Baseball America rankings into the top 10.
This must help your marketing team.
DC: It’s hard to
sell. The primary market is family entertainment. The comings and goings of the
players doesn’t matter a lot, but after a player reaches the big leagues, people
say, “I saw him when . . .”
MF: Do you end up
selling Redbirds alumni more than you do active players?
DC: To some degree
you do, because that’s the proven track record. If rising stars get here and do
anything, they’re not here for very long. Traditionally, the Cardinals have
traded those players away. But they seem to be starting to build on home-grown
products. In the long run, I think that’s a better message for us to sell. It
just takes time.
MF: Anything new
planned for the ballpark this season?
DC: The ballpark
still looks new, and we’ve done nothing to short-change that. We’ve done a lot
of painting. We’re playing around with the concessions menu a bit. We are going
to add a Redbirds Ripper Dog. It’s a deep-fried hot dog, but it’s fried in such
a way that the case rips open. We figure, if it’s deep-fried, it’s got to have a
chance.
MF: The Civil
Rights Game – your brainchild – has moved to Cincinnati. What are your
reflections on this event now?
DC: I’ve wrestled
with it. It remains a sore point, on many levels. But I’ve taken some solace in
recent weeks, because the Reds have been calling about challenges in putting on
the Civil Rights Game. So I’m not removed from it; I’ve let them know I’ll do
whatever I can to help them with it. At the end of the day, the game wasn’t
about me, and it really wasn’t about Memphis. It was about baseball. If I can
further that development, then I’m willing to do that. Something that was born
here in Memphis is now a sought-after property of major-league baseball teams.
And the grapevine tells me there were several that wanted it.
