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Rumors of Prairie Dogs leaving 'asinine'
By LANCE FLEMING
Staff Writer
Byron Pierce has heard the rumors that the Abilene Prairie Dogs are going
to leave Abilene, and on Thursday he labeled them "asinine."
"Abilene is the heart of the Texas-Louisiana League," said Pierce,
the president of the league and the president and general manager of the
Prairie Dogs. "We have the model franchise here. The only reason we
wouldn't be back in Abilene is if the league folded, and I promise that
won't happen."
"I hear these rumors all the time," he said. "One of our
attorneys heard one the other day that we were going to move the franchise
to Wichita Falls, and that's absolutely asinine. We are not leaving Abilene,
and you can put that in a big, bold headline."
But that's not to say that Pierce and the rest of the organization haven't
been mildly disappointed in what's gone on in the stands this season.
What's gone on down on the field has been fine. The Dogs won the first-half
championship and are in first place in the second half as the season enters
the stretch run. But what's been disappointing is that the team has done
all this in front of the second-fewest fans in the league.
Amarillo, which leads the league in attendance, has drawn 121,681 fans through
44 home dates. Abilene, next-to-last in total attendance and average attendance,
will be lucky to draw 75,000 fans this season.
The Prairie Dogs are averaging 1,473 fans through 41 home dates.
"We averaged 1,608 last year, so this year has been less than I expected,"
Pierce said. "I thought with a winning team we'd have much better attendance
than we had last year."
But a number of factors have weighed in to keep the Prairie Dogs' attendance
down, among them the loss of the first three home games of the season and
prolonged homestands and road trips.
Abilene was scheduled to open the season with a four-game homestand, May
16-19, against defending league champion Lubbock. But because Abilene Christian
University won the bid to host the NCAA Division II South Central Regional
baseball tournament from May 16-18, the Dogs were forced to reschedule their
first three games.
They were then forced to open their season on what is usually the worst
day to draw crowds - a Sunday - and saw only 1,685 fans make their way through
the gates.
Abilene's attendance has never really recovered from those three missed
home dates that covered Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, which usually
attract the best crowds.
"Due to some unfortunate circumstances on the front end of our schedule,
we lost those three games," Pierce said. "It probably hurt us
by about 9,000 or 10,000 fans, and that would have brought our average attendance
to more than it was last year."
Indeed if Abilene had those 10,000 fans factored into their home attendance,
it would be averaging around 1,650-1,700 people right now, which would be
good for second or third in the league.
That would still leave the Prairie Dogs roughly 1,000 fans per night behind
Amarillo, but Pierce said Amarillo is the exception to the rule in the Texas-Louisiana
League.
"Amarillo is just a phenomonal baseball town," Pierce said. "Plus
they have a 6,500-seat stadium that lends itself to the core of minor league
baseball. The stadium has covered stands and a second level. They'll do
five times the sales of concessions and souvenirs that we'll do."
And the Dillas are drawing big numbers despite being last in the standings
right now.
"But no matter what product they put on the field, Amarillo will support
it," Pierce said. "It's a love affair up there between the town
and the team."
Another explanation for the lack of numbers at Scott Field could be the
schedule, drawn up by former T-L League executive Doug Theodore.
The Prairie Dogs' schedule has included homestands of 14 games and the ongoing
13-gamer, as well as road trips of 10 games in 11 days, 12 games in 13 days
and 10 games in 10 days. The schedule even had the Prairie Dogs play Tyler
11 straight games between July 2 and July 15 (around the league's all-star
break).
The homestands are too long to consistently attract crowds in excess of
2,000 per night, and the road trips are so long that fans can't keep in
touch with the team, and thus don't really know when the club will be back
in Abilene.
Pierce admits the poor scheduling also hurt the Prairie Dogs.
"Absolutely it did, and next year we're going to remedy that,"
he said. "We'll have a more fan-friendly and travel-friendly schedule.
We won't have any homestand longer than seven games, and that will lend
itself to a better travel schedule."
Pierce also touched on a few other subjects Thursday, including league expansion
and the financial status of the league.
Expansion: Pierce said there is a "50-50 chance" that the
league will go to eight teams for next season.
Adding two more teams would mean the league could go back to its two-division
format and get rid of the everybody-gets-in playoff system it is currently
playing under. Pierce said that if the league doesn't go to eight teams
for the 1997 season, there's a "90 percent chance" that it will
go to eight teams for the 1998 season.
"We need the eight teams to absorb the costs of the central office,
and to make it an easier league to travel in," Pierce said. "We're
going to work awfully hard in the offseason to get to eight teams."
Speculation on which two cities are being looked at for expansion teams
centers on Fort Worth and Lafayette, La. There's also another city being
looked at, but Pierce didn't want to comment on it.
T-L League finances: Pierce said that for the second straight year
the league will turn a profit, as will the Prairie Dogs.
However, because the league is a private enterprise, Pierce wouldn't say
exactly how much the league would make.
"This league is financially sound because we don't have Pueblo or Laredo
(two teams who folded at midseason last year) sucking up all the profits,"
Pierce said. "And the Prairie Dogs will make more money because we
won't have the start-up costs that we had last year."
All content copyright 1996, Lance Fleming,The Abilene Reporter-News
and Reporter OnLine
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