ledhead36
10-25-2008, 01:11 PM
Newark Bears baseball team on the verge of folding
by Steve Politi (spoliti@starledger.com) and Jeffrey C. Mays (jmays@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Saturday October 25, 2008,
The Newark Bears, the minor-league team that brought baseball back to the city after a 50-year absence, is on the verge of folding, according to team and Essex County officials.
Marc Berson, a Millburn-based real estate developer who purchased the team in 2003, said this morning that mounting financial losses have forced him to fire several team employees and that he is exploring options to sell the team. The news was first reported on the Web site AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com (http://atlanticleaguebaseball.com/).
"There's no secret that the economic side of this has not been positive for years," Berson said. "There's no secret to that. There's no secret that the numbers of people attending have not been anywhere near the capacity of that stadium. Anyone can take notice of those two facts."
When it opened in 1999 at a cost of $36 million, Newark Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium was supposed be a lynchpin in the revitalization of the city's downtown area.
But the team never drew the crowds Essex County and Newark officials had expected. The Bears averaged 2,746 fans this season, second-lowest total in the Atlantic League. The rival Somerset Patriots, meanwhile, drew nearly twice as many spectators - 5,433 a game - playing in Bridgewater.
The Bears' struggles mean a city that once had two flourishing professional teams - the minor-league Newark Bears, a top farm team for the New York Yankees, and the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues - is in danger of being without pro baseball again, and raise questions about the future of the ballpark.
"No matter what happens, there's going to be baseball in Newark," Berson said. "We have two college teams that play in Newark and we have lots of other high schools that play in the city. Bears Stadium has been a place where they do play their home games.
"Most importantly, and that's why I'm not prepared to make a statement at this point, is we are working on different alternatives that would provide for minor-league baseball to continue in Newark. This is moving very quickly."
Asked how much money the team had lost this season, Berson would only say, "It's a lot of money."
"This is not a philanthropy," he said. "I really do believe, and I've stuck with it because I believe, that this was good for Newark and good for the city, and very important for the North end of town. But there are limits. We're doing everything we can to find a solution here."
Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo said that no matter what happens with the Bears, the stadium would not close. He said he will meet next week to explore other options for the team, including arranging the sale of the team or making sure it moves to another more viable league. He said his dream would be to have an major league affiliated team there but that idea has run into problems.
"Say we have no team. We would go in there and conduct business. We would go to the colleges and the high schools and rent it out," DiVincenzo said. "This is about the bigger picture of the Newark. We haven't been making money but we have brought so many people to Newark."
The county and Newark do not make money off of the stadium. In recent years they have split an $11 million annual payment to pay off the bond debt that was used to build the stadium. DiVincenzo said he was asked to commit more money to the project but declined to do so.
"I will sit down with (Newark Mayor Cory Booker) and we will run the stadium ourselves and break even with high school and college sports," DiVincenzo said.
The area around the stadium is in the midst of a major redevelopment plan. The Westinghouse building and the old Lincoln Motel have both been recently torn down to make room for possible residential and commercial projects.
"There is interest in the stadium because people see all the development there," DiVincenzo said. "We are not making money off the team playing there but it's the bigger picture about Newark that matters."
by Steve Politi (spoliti@starledger.com) and Jeffrey C. Mays (jmays@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Saturday October 25, 2008,
The Newark Bears, the minor-league team that brought baseball back to the city after a 50-year absence, is on the verge of folding, according to team and Essex County officials.
Marc Berson, a Millburn-based real estate developer who purchased the team in 2003, said this morning that mounting financial losses have forced him to fire several team employees and that he is exploring options to sell the team. The news was first reported on the Web site AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com (http://atlanticleaguebaseball.com/).
"There's no secret that the economic side of this has not been positive for years," Berson said. "There's no secret to that. There's no secret that the numbers of people attending have not been anywhere near the capacity of that stadium. Anyone can take notice of those two facts."
When it opened in 1999 at a cost of $36 million, Newark Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium was supposed be a lynchpin in the revitalization of the city's downtown area.
But the team never drew the crowds Essex County and Newark officials had expected. The Bears averaged 2,746 fans this season, second-lowest total in the Atlantic League. The rival Somerset Patriots, meanwhile, drew nearly twice as many spectators - 5,433 a game - playing in Bridgewater.
The Bears' struggles mean a city that once had two flourishing professional teams - the minor-league Newark Bears, a top farm team for the New York Yankees, and the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues - is in danger of being without pro baseball again, and raise questions about the future of the ballpark.
"No matter what happens, there's going to be baseball in Newark," Berson said. "We have two college teams that play in Newark and we have lots of other high schools that play in the city. Bears Stadium has been a place where they do play their home games.
"Most importantly, and that's why I'm not prepared to make a statement at this point, is we are working on different alternatives that would provide for minor-league baseball to continue in Newark. This is moving very quickly."
Asked how much money the team had lost this season, Berson would only say, "It's a lot of money."
"This is not a philanthropy," he said. "I really do believe, and I've stuck with it because I believe, that this was good for Newark and good for the city, and very important for the North end of town. But there are limits. We're doing everything we can to find a solution here."
Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo said that no matter what happens with the Bears, the stadium would not close. He said he will meet next week to explore other options for the team, including arranging the sale of the team or making sure it moves to another more viable league. He said his dream would be to have an major league affiliated team there but that idea has run into problems.
"Say we have no team. We would go in there and conduct business. We would go to the colleges and the high schools and rent it out," DiVincenzo said. "This is about the bigger picture of the Newark. We haven't been making money but we have brought so many people to Newark."
The county and Newark do not make money off of the stadium. In recent years they have split an $11 million annual payment to pay off the bond debt that was used to build the stadium. DiVincenzo said he was asked to commit more money to the project but declined to do so.
"I will sit down with (Newark Mayor Cory Booker) and we will run the stadium ourselves and break even with high school and college sports," DiVincenzo said.
The area around the stadium is in the midst of a major redevelopment plan. The Westinghouse building and the old Lincoln Motel have both been recently torn down to make room for possible residential and commercial projects.
"There is interest in the stadium because people see all the development there," DiVincenzo said. "We are not making money off the team playing there but it's the bigger picture about Newark that matters."