Columbia mayor to chair task force to save minor league baseball teams
Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin will co-chair a national task force to address concerns over Major League Baseball’s announcement that it wants to cut 42 minor league teams.
The task force comes under the umbrella of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which is having its winter meetings this week in Washington, D.C. Benjamin is the immediate past president of the organization and will co-chair the task force with Dayton, Ohio, Mayor Nan Whaley and Chattanooga, Tenn., Mayor Andy Berke.
Despite his high-profile position on the task force, Benjamin said Columbia has “zero” chance of losing its franchise, the Class A Fireflies.
“I have zero concern about Columbia,” he said. “We have been told by Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball that we have no concern.”
In October, MLB released a plan to eliminate 42 team from its farm system. The next month the New York Times printed a list of the potential threatened 42. Columbia was not on the list.
Fireflies owner Jason Freier told The State that MLB wants to eliminate the teams because salaries for minor league players are going up “and they want to level things out.”
While the MLB franchises don’t own the minor league facilities — owners like Freier do — the franchises pay the players and coaches.
Most MLB clubs have five or six minor league teams — from rookie or short season leagues to Triple A. Columbia, a New York Mets affiliate in the South Atlantic League, is classified a low Class A team.
Freier said the teams to be cut were judged on the state of their facilities and travel expenses. Columbia is safe on both counts, he said.
He noted that Segra Park in the BullStreet District, home of the Fireflies, has been recognized as one of the top baseball stadiums in the country. Ballpark Digest recently named the park its low Class A entry on the Ballparks of the Decade list.
“There is nobody anywhere who thinks this will have an affect on Columbia,” Freier said. “It could not be in a better position both facility- or location-wise.”
In addition to the Fireflies, Freier’s Hardball Capital owns the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Fort Wayne, Ind., TinCaps. Chattanooga is on the list of 42, according to Freier.
Freier said that the decision to cut teams is a mistake.
“You would think the number one job would be growing your fan base,” he said.
No South Carolina team was on the New York Times list. The other teams include the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, Charleston RiverDogs, Greenville Drive and the Augusta GreenJackets, whose stadium is in North Augusta.
Benjamin said the task force is being formed to present a united front among the mayors “and make sure there is a support system in place” for the threatened cities.