ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 10, 1996 TAG: 9607100031
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: jack bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Durham's baseball franchise went Hollywood years ago. Now, it's going International.
That would be the International League. The Bulls are leaving the Carolina League for Class AAA in 1998, as the top farm club of the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
It's a huge loss for the league, even more than a Doug Million.
Salem could have more than one neighbor changing addresses in the Class A circuit, too. If Northern Virginia gets a National League mover, does Prince William pack? Winston-Salem is among 12 cities that have made the first cut toward Double A expansion in 1999, although the home of the Warthogs, Ernie Shore Field, isn't a favorite for stepping up in classification.
Durham is a different story. In February, Bulls owner Jim Goodmon took his territory out of the expansion derby. A few months later, the Triple A expansion committee asked Durham if it wanted a team, because the committee didn't want one in Puerto Rico. Sorry, San Juan.
Bowie, Md., will get the other club, moving up from the Class AA Eastern League, and figures to join the IL with Durham, taking the league that includes Richmond and Norfolk to 12 clubs. Triple A needed two new teams to reach 30, tying in with major league expansion by the Arizona Diamondbacks and Devil Rays, who will begin play in '98.
Although the Carolina League should receive compensation from the IL for territorial invasion, the loss of the Bulls undoubtedly will diminish the league's notoriety. The Bulls have been the league's glamor team since the city's return in1980 after a 12-year hiatus, only partly because Susan Sarandon doesn't play Kinston.
The club provided the fertile roots for the famed flick, ``Bull Durham.'' The Bulls and that movie were the birth of minor-league marketing, long before there were Mudcats, Sea Dogs and Lugnuts elsewhere. The minors sold more than $46 million in merchandise last season, a trend that began at old Durham Athletic Park.
The club has been a big draw, attracting 22 percent of the league's 1.82 million spectators last season, and again leads the Carolina League in attendance this season. Located in the league's largest market, one bigger than some major-league stops, Durham has drawn more than 2 million fans at home since 1990.
In announcing his club's future tie with the Bulls, Tampa Bay general manager Chuck LaMar said, ``Durham is probably the most recognizable and successful minor-league franchise in all of baseball.''
That's what the Carolina League will be losing.
Goodmon will own 75 percent of the Triple A club, with the Devils Rays owning the rest. Tampa Bay also will pay a sizeable portion of the Bulls' Triple A expansion fee of $7.5 million, and to help expand the new Durham Bulls Athletic Park from 6,250 to the AAA-required 10,000 seats.
Where does the Carolina League go from here? Goodmon said he intends to keep the Class A club and that the Atlanta Braves want to retain their Carolina League affiliation.
Another Wilmington? The North Carolina port city will be losing its Class AA Southern League franchise to Mobile, Ala., next season, but the Wilmington ballpark definitely is inadequate. Fayetteville, N.C., is another possibility.
Avalanche owner Kelvin Bowles would like to see the league return to the region vacated in 1993 when the Peninsula Pilots were sold and moved to Wilmington, Del. Although the team would have to be located outside Norfolk's territorial range, Bowles believes a Class A club in the Newport News-Williamsburg corridor would prosper, if it is run properly.
The most likely spot could be Hickory, N.C., where in four South Atlantic League seasons the Crawdads have been a big hit, drawing 265,000 spectators last year to Frans Stadium.
Wherever the league goes, however, it won't be as bullish a situation as Durham.
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