Stadiums and Arenas of Canada part 2

[VANRIDERFAN]

The Western Major Baseball League

Edmonton Prospects www.prospectsbaseballclub.com
Lethbridge Bulls www.bullsbaseball.com
Medicine Hat Mavericks www.themavericks.ca
Melville Millionaires www.millionairesbaseball.com
Moose Jaw Miller Express
Okotoks Dawgs www.dawgsbaseball.ca
Regina Red Sox www. reginaredsox.com
Saskatoon Yellow Jackets www.saskatoonyellowjackets.com
Swift Current Indians www.scindians.ca
Weyburn Beavers www.weyburnbeavers.com
Yorkton Cardinals www. yorktoncardinalsbaseball.com

http://www.wmbl.ca/
Summer collegiate baseball leagues are an integral part of the college baseball system with schools from all over North America sending their players to wood bat summer leagues to hone their skills during the offseason, sending some of the most talented amateur baseball players on the continent every summer. Now the WMBL can begin to stake its claim as one of the leagues college coaches should send their talented players to.


The Western Major Baseball League reached the status of a complete Summer Collegiate Baseball League 2013. The WMBL has always been home to collegiate talent, but the change to a full collegiate model means some changes and new opportunities for the league that is continuing to grow. Beginning in the summer of 2013 eligible players must be enrolled in universities and colleges throughout North America and the world that is providing a collegiate type atmosphere for players. Players must have completed their first year of university and that eligibility ranges right through and includes the summer after their senior year graduation.


The theory and thought process behind this is to provide players with an excellent environment in order to develop their playing skills on an equal plane whether they are Canadian or Foreign. The leap will also but the WMBL in exclusive company as there are only approximately 25 Summer Collegiate leagues in North America, putting the WMBL in exclusive company as a destination for college ballplayers.

Team rosters are capped at 27 Players. The maximum number of non-canadian players allowed on any team roster is 16.

[Skyisnolimit]

I think a Canadian pro baseball league could do quite well imo. CFL has stood it's ground for many years. You would need the right investors though.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Skyisnolimit

I think a Canadian pro baseball league could do quite well imo.

It didn't last long the last time somebody tried it.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by Skyisnolimit

I think a Canadian pro baseball league could do quite well imo. CFL has stood it's ground for many years. You would need the right investors though.

The CFL struggles to gain traction and came close to dying a number of times.. the only thing that really saved it is that it has a lot of history to rely on. A new league won't have that.

[snowmobile]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

hamiltons Bernie Arbour Memorial Stadium

That is Nat Bailey in Vancouver. Bernie Arbour is just wood bleachers.

[dtown]

the last time somebody tried it.

Lol "the last CBL game was the all star game that ended in a tie, followed by a home run derby that produced 0 home runs."

It's too bad because it would have been awesome to see that league succeed, but I suppose that sentence really sums up the league and the product that it was. Can't help but laugh.

[craner]

Originally Posted by esquire

In some ways the low minors might be a better fit for Canada...between the shorter summers here and the fact that most people don't really give a crap about the ins and outs of a team and just want to sit in the sunshine, drink beer and cheer, a A or AA team lets you do that.

To get a AAA team is a pretty big outlay given the franchise fees (teams are worth around $15-$25 million) plus the fact that AAA stadiums are big and expensive these days (probably at least $75 million for a new one). $100 million is a lot for minor league baseball.

I agree.
It really needs to be a summer leauge, at least in Calgary.
I loved the AAA Cannons but the unpredictable weather made running a team in the spring & fall a tough go.

[EpicPonyTime]

The only way a Canadian league could work is if it copied the CHL model and had different divisions for each area of the country. Have teams from West play each other all year and then at the end of the season they cross the country to play Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. You could at least minimize the cost of travelling that way.

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

The Western Major Baseball League

Saskatoon doesn't have a team in the WMBL anymore. The Yellow Jackets folded two years ago.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Nat Bailey got a decent little reno recently - they're quite successful apparently. The Canadians are the only affiliated minor league baseball team in Canada.

cc insidevancouver


cc milb

[Migs]

Couple images today from @ReginaRev of New Mosaic Stadium

[Oilkountry]

I see one of the endzones at IGF being converted to something like that quite soon, if not both. I like the look of it though

[logan5]

Originally Posted by esquire

In some ways the low minors might be a better fit for Canada...between the shorter summers here and the fact that most people don't really give a crap about the ins and outs of a team and just want to sit in the sunshine, drink beer and cheer, a A or AA team lets you do that.

To get a AAA team is a pretty big outlay given the franchise fees (teams are worth around $15-$25 million) plus the fact that AAA stadiums are big and expensive these days (probably at least $75 million for a new one). $100 million is a lot for minor league baseball.

There's pretty big money to be made in AAA baseball though. Player salary is paid by the parent club, so if you have a stadium and a team, you can make a pretty good profit.

Vancouver weather didn't stop the AAA Canadians from playing for 22 years in Vancouver, but our ancient stadium did. Build a new AAA venue around downtown and the team would probly be more profitable than the Lions or Whitecaps.

First choice for a venue would be the waterfront area where the Whitecaps first proposed to build a stadium. A venue like that would sell out regularly, no matter what was happening on the field.

[Brizzy82]

Originally Posted by dtown

Lol "the last CBL game was the all star game that ended in a tie, followed by a home run derby that produced 0 home runs."

It's too bad because it would have been awesome to see that league succeed, but I suppose that sentence really sums up the league and the product that it was. Can't help but laugh.

I'm dead lol

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by Migs

Couple images today from @ReginaRev of New Mosaic Stadium

What are those yellow lines in the endzones?

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

What are those yellow lines in the endzones?

I think they are lines for soccer.

[odogfo]

You're dead? Why are you dead? Don't say you're dead when you're laughing.

Originally Posted by Brizzy82

I'm dead lol

[Kokkei Mizu]

Rogers Place can be seen near the beginning and near the end of this video:

• Video Link

[HomerSPC]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

I think they are lines for soccer.

Typically the end lines are the same as the football endzone line. I have no idea why they'd be like this.

[Prometheus]

We all know that they chose to install permanent football lines, but surely they wouldn't tarnish this new temple of football with permanent ugly yellow sooccer lines. As bad as field advertising is, nothing makes a CFL field look bush league more than an unsightly and distracting network of permanent yellow soccer lines superimposed on top of the football lines like they have in Montreal, Calgary and the old Mosaic.

It's absolutely assinine if it's their intention to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build this stadium only to ruin its field in such a cheap and unnecessary way. The enitre argument for permanent football lines was that soccer events would be extremely rare. So why would you create permanent lines for a sport that will almost never be played there and permanently make ugly the field of your primary tenant?

[craner]

Originally Posted by Kokkei Mizu

Rogers Place can be seen near the beginning and near the end of this video:

• Video Link

Thanks for posting - was this a test run ?