Tri-Cities Dust Devils future in danger as Pasco pumps $2 million into stadium
Brent Miles’ phone has been ringing off the hook with worried Tri-City Dust Devil fans.
Last week the team was listed as one of 42 minor league baseball teams nationwide that could lose their affiliation with a Major League Baseball club.
The New York Times reported that MLB owners voted to cut their ties with a quarter of their farm teams beginning with the 2021 season.
The proposed move comes at the same time that the city of Pasco is spending $2 million to renovate Gesa Stadium — home of the Dust Devil team.
First off, Miles, the Dust Devils president, is letting baseball fans know the 2020 Northwest League season won’t be affected. The Tri-Cities team has a year left on its player agreement with the San Diego Padres.
“There is no change for the 2020 season,” said Miles, part of the Northwest Baseball Ventures group that owns the Dust Devils. “We’re talking about after the 2020 season.”
And even then, says Miles, nothing is set in stone.
“It was pretty shocking. Pretty surprising. We had heard rumblings that they were putting something together,” said Miles. “I think we’re trying to figure out what they are trying to achieve.”
The MLB is negotiating with Minor League Baseball on a new working contract, called a Professional Baseball Agreement.
“Major League Baseball’s first proposal is just a start of the negotiations,” said Miles. “Think of it like being in the top of the first inning. Minor league baseball has a committee that is involved in negotiations and those negotiations are ongoing.”
But possibility creates a vacuum for those cities and communities that have invested money in local ballparks. Other teams in the West on the cut list include Salem/Keizer, Ore.; Ogden and Orem, Utah; Billings, Mont.; and Grand Junction, Colo.
In Tri-Cities, the Pasco City Council decided in fall 2018 to use hotel/motel taxes to finance the $2 million ballpark improvements.
The upgrades are being repaid over about 20 years with the taxes charged when someone rents a room. The taxes are then used on projects that encourage more tourism.
Jon Funfar, Pasco’s communications program manager, said the city is aware of the MLB discussions, but said it’s too early to panic.
“Over 100 members of Congress have written a letter to Major League Baseball expressing their concern of the situation,” he said. “Until we hear anything concrete, I don’t think we need to comment on (the situation) yet.”
MLB affiliations
The MLB has 30 teams, including the Seattle Mariners.
There are 160 minor league teams around the country, and each fields a roster of minor league players supplied from one of those 30 MLB organizations.
Each minor-league team has either a two-year or four-year agreement with a major league club.
In the Dust Devils’ case, they have an agreement with the San Diego Padres, and are in their second year of a two-year deal with the Padres when the 2020 season begins next June.
The Professional Baseball Agreements have been used for more than 100 years, and the current 20-year agreement expires after the 2020 season.
Under the agreement major league clubs pay the salaries of affiliated coaches and players and provides those players to a minor team for development.
In the Tri-Cities, the Padres pay the salaries for all the Dust Devils coaches and players.
And the minor league team owners are responsible for paying for in-season travel, some of the equipment such as bats and balls, and other operational expenses.
Minor-league teams also pay a ticket tax to the MLB club.
Minor league baseball, as a whole, is popular and drew over 41 million fans to their ballparks last season.
But Jeff Luhnow, the Houston Astros general manager, proposed cutting 42 of the teams, claiming there are too many minor league players.
The change would allow MLB teams to pay the remaining minor league players better and they wouldn’t have to travel as much. The remaining teams would be put into better geographical regions under the plan.
Fighting back
“We are definitely fighting this,” said Miles. “The 160 teams throughout the country have banded together.”
“We’re fighting on behalf of the 160 employees we have, the 87,000 fans who came out to see our games last season and to protect the positive financial and social benefits that the Dust Devils bring to our community,” he said
“Regarding arguments of less player travel, we’re in the direct center of the Northwest League,” said Miles. “As far as better playing facilities, we’ve spent millions on the ballpark, and there is more coming.”
Miles says the Dust Devils have tremendous fan support, and a great booster club. The team also does a great job of housing players with local families.
“Players and coaches who have spent their summers here have enjoyed it here,” he said. “In the last four years alone, we’ve had 20 guys make their debut with the San Diego Padres. So obviously we’re a big piece of the puzzle (for the Padres).”
What’s a worst-case scenario look like if MLB’s proposal would go through?
There would likely still be baseball at Gesa Stadium in 2021, maybe with a team in an independent league.
Or, more likely, a team in the West Coast League, a summer college league that has teams throughout the Northwest, including Walla Walla and Yakima.
But the Northwest League is the optimal plan.
And there already has been pushback on the proposal.
In addition to the letter signed by members of Congress, there likely would be lawsuits filed by the 42 minor-league teams and possibly their host cities, like Pasco.
What’s next?
The negotiations will continue, most likely at baseball’s winter meetings, set for Dec. 8-12 in San Diego.
And they could continue long past that.
It is, as Miles says, the top of the first inning.
“Times have changed,” he admitted. “We need to look at the agreement, but cutting 42 teams is not a good idea. Major League Baseball has got this wrong. Cutting baseball in 42 communities is not the way to grow the game. We’re all fighting this.”
This story was originally published November 25, 2019 at 5:00 AM.