Fresno Grizzles Lose Sponsors After Memorial Day Incident

[Centrum Hockey]

I Wonder if the team is not long for triple a if they don't get a LAA affiliation
Fresno Fallout: Sponsors Depart After AOC Memorial Day Video

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[garnetpalmetto]

I Wonder if the team is not long for triple a if they don't get a LAA affiliation
Fresno Fallout: Sponsors Depart After AOC Memorial Day Video

Umm...what? The Grizzlies have been in Fresno for 20 years now following their move there from Tucson. They've never been affiliated with the Angels (they were with the Giants from 1998 until 2014 when the Giants changed to Sacramento and then the Astros from 2014 until 2018 and this is their first year with the Nats and that PDC is set to expire in 2020). The Angels, meanwhile, have been with Salt Lake for the last 18 years with no signs of that relationship stopping or souring. Beyond that, even after the incident and losing the Heineken and Sun-Maid sponsorships, the Grizzlies brought in a crowd of 12,962 on Friday night and 9,809 on Saturday night - both strong crowds at a park that seats 10,000.

This sort of thing definitely highlights the need for MiLB teams to not always seek out the cheapest/easiest option and that it might be far less of a headache to produce these type of videos in-house where you can control the content. If they DO come from outside sources, you *have* to go through them with a fine-toothed comb and this was an unforced error on their part. Whomever was responsible for selecting the video is likely on the hot seat right now and I wouldn't be surprised if all MiLB teams were looking at their video content more closely than they had been.

All said, I'll keep the topic going - I know this is a difficult line to walk with this sort of topic, but be mindful of HF's rule on politics. Posts talking politics will be deleted so keep this specific to the front office, business/sponsorship, or attendance side of things rather than the content of the video, supporting/denigrating any of the politicians referenced or featured in the video, discussing the political leanings of the area, etc.

 

[Centrum Hockey]

Umm...what? The Grizzlies have been in Fresno for 20 years now following their move there from Tucson. They've never been affiliated with the Angels (they were with the Giants from 1998 until 2014 when the Giants changed to Sacramento and then the Astros from 2014 until 2018 and this is their first year with the Nats and that PDC is set to expire in 2020). The Angels, meanwhile, have been with Salt Lake for the last 18 years with no signs of that relationship stopping or souring. Beyond that, even after the incident and losing the Heineken and Sun-Maid sponsorships, the Grizzlies brought in a crowd of 12,962 on Friday night and 9,809 on Saturday night - both strong crowds at a park that seats 10,000.

This sort of thing definitely highlights the need for MiLB teams to not always seek out the cheapest/easiest option and that it might be far less of a headache to produce these type of videos in-house where you can control the content. If they DO come from outside sources, you *have* to go through them with a fine-toothed comb and this was an unforced error on their part. Whomever was responsible for selecting the video is likely on the hot seat right now and I wouldn't be surprised if all MiLB teams were looking at their video content more closely than they had been.

All said, I'll keep the topic going - I know this is a difficult line to walk with this sort of topic, but be mindful of HF's rule on politics. Posts talking politics will be deleted so keep this specific to the front office, business/sponsorship, or attendance side of things rather than the content of the video, supporting/denigrating any of the politicians referenced or featured in the video, discussing the political leanings of the area, etc.

DC is just far away for Fresno it kinda reminded me of how the sky soxs lost the Rockies and they eventually moved to single a The angles or dodgers I thought where logical affiliations.

 

[garnetpalmetto]

DC is just far away for Fresno it kinda reminded me of how the sky socks lost the Rockies and they eventually moved to single a The angles or dodgers I thought where logical affiliations.

I can see why you'd think that, but it's not as critical as you think. Firstly, a few things about the Colorado Springs situation - the Sky Sox didn't move down to Single-A, their successor team, the Rocky Mountain Vibes, are in Short Season A, which is a distinct classification difference from Single-A.

More to the point, the relocation of the Triple-A Sky Sox franchise to San Antonio had little to do with the affiliation change and a lot to do with Elmore Sports Group, the Sky Sox's owners, wanting a new ballpark and Colorado Springs not giving them one. San Antonio, meanwhile, promised a new park if ESG, who also owned the Double-A San Antonio Missions, would move the Triple-A franchise to San Antonio.

As for Fresno, the PDC with the Nationals is up in 2020 and at that time either they or Washington can choose to seek another parent/farm if either side feel that it's not working out. Barring any drastic change of fortunes, I don't think you're going to pry the Angels out of Salt Lake and the Dodgers own their Triple-A team in Oklahoma City so neither of those are options. No idea who might be interested in a Fresno affiliation in 2020, but as of now, the Toronto/Buffalo, Chicago (AL)/Charlotte, Cleveland/Columbus, Tampa Bay/Durham, Pittsburgh/Indianapolis, Philadelphia/Lehigh Valley, Cincinnati/Louisville, Baltimore/Norfolk, Minnesota/Rochester, Detroit/Toledo, Oakland/Las Vegas, Miami/New Orleans, Arizona/Reno, San Francisco/Sacramento, and Milwaukee/San Antonio PDCs are up for renewal that season, along with Washington/Fresno.

The distance issue isn't as much of a factor, especially at the Triple-A level. Heck, Las Vegas was affiliated with two different Eastern teams (the Mets and the Blue Jays) for a decade, Florida/Miami's been affiliated with New Orleans for a decade (and before that they were with Albuquerque), and Rochester and Minnesota have been affiliated with each other since 2003. What you typically see in those instances is the Double-A team being the de facto top farm team and more prospects being drawn from there. I'm not quite sure how the Nationals are treating the Grizzlies (offhand I think I saw 2 of their Top 10 prospects on the Grizzlies roster) but it doesn't seem to be hurting them in the standings (2nd in their division, half a game behind division-leading Tacoma) or at the box office (averaging about 5,846/game, good enough for 8th in the 16-team Pacific Coast League - comparatively last season they averaged 6,051/game, which was 9th in the League).

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

This should probably be locked since you can't even really talk about what happened.

 

[garnetpalmetto]

This should probably be locked since you can't even really talk about what happened.

You certainly can talk about what happened, but like everything else, it has to be done within the bounds of the rules. In this case:

4) Threadjacking/OT: Posts that waste space or time on the site, annoy users due to characteristics or repetition, disrupt the site functionality, or cause threads to veer off topic may be considered “threadjacking/OT”. This also applies to signatures, user titles, avatars, profile fields, and so forth. Stay on topic as much as possible. Post new threads in the appropriate forum only. Political discussion is not permitted on the forums except within the narrowly defined scope of hockey-related matters.

Again, discussing the aftermath from a business/attendance or a team ops/front office perspective is cool. Talking about your like/dislike of the political figures, political preferences of the area the team's in, etc., isn't.