Items regarding the end of the Albuquerque Dukes AAA Pacific
Coast League franchise after the 2000 season

- mostly items summarized from the local media outlets in Albuquerque
  regarding the loss of the Dukes, stadium construction/financing
  items, opinions from other league presidents and other baseball
  operators about the Dukes situation... I must admit all the good
  stuff has been published in the ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL, the electronic
  media outlets have done a poor job with this developing/ongoing
  story

AUGUST 2002 UPDATE ...

Construction on the renovated sports stadium is continuing and should
be done on time April 1, 2003 in time for the 2003 baseball season.

The new team name still hasn't been unveiled but ticket prices have been.
I have constructed my fan-web page, the unofficial albuquerque AAA baseball
web page and will update that page with info as it is reported as well
as update it when the new team is named.

http://www.nmia.com/~roberts/03albuquerque-baseball.html


NOVEMBER 2001 UPDATE ...

The Albuquerque City Councilors almost messed up things.  In October,
they set a deadline to the new ownership group to finalize the contract
to purchase the Calgary Cannons or else the work done to date would be
for nothing.  With that pressure upon them, the ownership group was
able to sign the purchase agreement and things progress with getting
a new team in Albuquerque hopefully for the 2003 season.  . . .  
"Groundbreaking" took place at the Sports Stadium to begin renovations
although some work on the renovation had already begun.  . . .  HOK
Sport will do the architectural work for the redesigned stadium.  HOK
designed stadiums for the Rockies (Coors Field), Astros (Enron Field),
Reds (Great American Ballpark), White Sox (the new Comiskey Park), 
Orioles (Camden Yards), Giants (Pac Bell Park), Pirates (PNC park),
Phillies (ballpark name TBD), and Padres (ballpark name TBD).  
Personally, I like the work they do and I'm grateful the city
accepted HOK Sports to redesign the sports stadium. . . .  Albuquerque
will get a new mayor in December.  Jim Baca is out and Martin Chavez will
once again serve as mayor of Albuquerque.  This change in leadership
shouldn't change the renovation project plans or deadline.


JUNE 2001 UPDATE -  BASEBALL IS COMING BACK TO ALBUQUERQUE!

Voters decided on May 30th to bring baseball back to Albuquerque!
56% of voters approved a bond question to issue $10 million
in general obligation bonds to renovate the stadium.  67% voted
to renovate the current Sports Stadium while 33% voted to build
a new ballpark.  So baseball will be back in Albuquerque and it
likely will be in the summer 2003 when renovations are completed.
An ownership group led by Ken Young and Mike Kokdyke will purchase
the Calgary Cannons franchise and move them to Albuquerque.  The
team, yet to be named, will pay $700,000 annual rent with supplemental
rent of 12.5% of revenue in excess of $5.5 million with the supplemental
rent not to exceed $437,500 a year.  

There will be a 10% surcharge on tickets and concession items to
help pay for a renovated stadium.  

Details on renovations to the stadium will follow as the plans
are developed and construction begins.


UPDATE FOR FEBRUARY 20, 2001 --- i've gotten a few emails lately
so I thought I"d summarize the situation.  It just seems to be
a political hot potato lately - the mayor Jim Baca continues to
push his new ballpark desire (approx $35million) while city councellors
are saying constituents are calling them and telling them they'd like
to renovate the current Sports Stadium - estimated price tag of $20-25
million.  I haven't heard any date of when Albuquerque voters will
get to have a say in what they want to do, but BASEBALL WEEKLY reported
it would be in April.  I haven't heard that in the local media so
I don't know where BASEBALL WEEKLY got that info.  Other than the
ballpark, it was announced in January that a group has purchased
the Calgary Cannons franchise and will move it to Albuquerque pending
PCL approval and the outcome of the stadium issue.  The PCL preliminarily
has approved the move if the stadium issue is settled to their satisfaction.
I bet if the Sports Stadium can be renevoated to AAA level standards or
if a new ballpark is built, the PCL will give the final approval.

There may be Dukes baseball in 2002 if the Stadium issue gets settled
soon (and it is widely believed the team would play at the Sports
Stadium while a new ballpark is being built).  If renovation wins,
it may be several years longer as the Stadium is torn up and 
re-constructed.

Eventally, I hope baseball comes back and that the politicans don't
screw up this nice deal to bring baseball back to Albuquerque!

on another note, the name "Dukes" belongs to the Portland franchise
group as it was included with the team.  The Albuquerque investors
are going to have to have to buy back the name, but they say if
the price is too high, they won't buy it back and will have to come
up with a new name.

-=-=-=

It was reported on the evening news August 29, 2000 that
the Mayor and his committee want to put the new ballpark
at Lomas and Broadway (close proximity to both I-25 and I-40).
It was also reported that renovating the existing Sports Stadium
would be $32 million dollars; about the same price as if
a new stadium were to be built.

-=-=-

A must have item for any Dukes fan is the August 19, 2000 
ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL.  Most of the Sports section and a
front page story is devoted to the Dukes and the long history
of the franchise (1972 to 2000).   If you aren't able to
obtain a copy, go to http://www.abqjournal.com and check out
the stories.  This special newspaper was released as the
Dukes begin their final regular-season homestand of the season.
There should be more games at the Sports Stadium this season
as the Dukes have just about wrapped up a playoff spot and
should contend for the PCL (and hopefuly Triple-A World Series)
title.    Let's hope the Dukes make the TAWS - the series will
be televised by ESPN2 so it would be great exposure and last
hurrah for the Dukes.


-=-=-=

On July 31, 2000, two ownership group members attended the Dukes
game with Albuquerque mayor Jim Baca.  Ken Young, President and
Managing General Partner of the Norfolk Tides (AAA Mets) and
Martin Koldyke, director of a venturre capital firm based in
Chicago, are looking at ways to find investors to bring a team
to Albuquerque (mostly likely through purchase of an existing
AAA team and move it to Albuquerque).  These two members also
visited with PCL President Branch Rickey Jr.  They think that
a team will not be moved or started in Albuquerque if a new
stadium is not built.  They did concede, however, that if
there is an assurance of a new ballpark, the team could play
in the Sports Stadium for a few years until the new ballpark
is built.

=-=-=-=

- The ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL reported on July 19, 2000 that the Western
League (an independant league) is interested in putting a franchise
in Albuquerque.  Mayor Jim Baca is not satisfied with the news -
he still wants to build a new stadium and bring a AAA-level franchise
to the city.  The Western League says the Sports Stadium is fine -
it's larger than other stadiums in the league.


-=-=-=

- The ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL delivered the bad news on March 13, 2000. In a
copyrighted story by Sports staff writer Dennis Latta, Latta reported that
Dukes owner Bob Lozinak sold the team to Marshall Glickman and Mike Higgins
from Portland, Oregion.  The estimated price of the sale is $10 million to
$12 million.  The franchise will transfer from Lozinak's Albuquerque
Processional Baseball Inc. to Glickman/Higgins' Portland Family
Entertainment. The Dukes will play in Albuquerque for the 2000 season before
moving to Portland for the 2001 season.  It is not known at this time if the
Dodgers affiliation will move with the franchise to Portland. Lozinak needed
the money from selling the Dukes to help build a new stadium for his
franchise in Altoona, Pennsylvania (Class AA Eastern League).

- THE OREGONIAN, Portland's newspaper, reported that day that the City of
Portland and Portland Family Entertainment will work together to renovate
and operate 74-year-old Civic Stadium.  It will cost $37 million to renovate
(and the city will finance 90 percent of that).  A major part of the
renovation will be to remove the left-field bleachers and add 32 luxury
boxes.  There will be sound reducing measures and traffic management
measures done, part of an agreement with the city, PFE, and residents near
Civic Stadium. PFE will pay $908,000 a year to rent Civic Stadium and will
split profits from other operational activities with the city.  The city
will finance their part of it with a bond issue.  Glickman in recent history
had tried to acquire the Calgary Cannons (another PCL Franchise) but Cannons
owner Russ Parker decided not to sell the team.

- Albuquerque mayor Jim Baca is getting a group together to study
the construction of a new ballpark as well as how to get another
professional baseball team to call Albuquerque home in 2001 or
beyond.  Dukes president Patrick McKernan is expected to head up
or participate in this committee.  New Mexico senior senator Pete
Domenici (R-NM) vows he will help in any way he can to help
Albuquerque get a new professional baseball franchise.  Baca wants
to try to get a bond issue voted on Summer 2000 to get things rolling
should the city eventually decide to finance the stadium with
bonds.

- The JOURNAL has been speculating that the franchise most-likely
to move to Albuquerque of any AAA franchise would be the Ottawa
Lynx (AAA Expos).  The Lynx are in the last year of an affiliation
agreement with the Expos and the Lynx are also trying to renegotiate
with the city with the realization if the city and Lynx can't negotiate
a new agreement, the Lynx would have to move.  It is estimated that
in the 2002 season, there are three potential teams that could be
moved to Albuquerque.

- It's estimated the economic impact of the Albuquerque Dukes to
the city is about $12 million

- Early estimates say a new stadium would cost $30 million.

- KPMG has been hired by the City of Albuquerque for $10,000 to study
financing that would be involved to build the stadium.  KPMG will study
other AAA teams' lease agreement terms, construction costs and how other
stadiums were financed.

- Portland had a AAA Pacific Coast franchise (the Portland Beavers) until
about 6 years ago when the franchise moved to Salt Lake City and became
the Salt Lake City Buzz.  Portland will spend money renovating Civic
Stadium in preparation for the 2001 season.  Civic Stadium was the home
of the Portland Beavers.  Portland acquired a Class A franchise in 1995
but thirsted for another AAA-level team.

- The Dodgers this past offseason had made it known they didn't like the
Albuquerque Sports Stadium anymore.  It didn't have the modern luxuries and
space that a AAA-level ballpark in this date and time should have, such as
batting cages, larger locker rooms, more spacious weight rooms.

- The Dukes have been the Dodgers AAA Farm Club since 1972

- PCL President Branch Rickey III told the JOURNAL that average attendance
seems to correlate to the age of the Stadium.  The Sports Stadium was built
in 1969; the Dukes' 1999 average attendance was 22nd out of 30 total AAA
teams.  In terms of ballpark ages, there will only be 3 ballparks older than
the Sports Stadium in the PCL in 2000.  One of the newest stadiums will be
the stadium in Sacramento, California.  Vancouver's franchise moved after
the 1999 season to Sacramento.  New stadiums are also in Memphis and
Louisville.  Rickey III also went on to say the PCL is committed to
bringing a franchise back to Albuquerque, but added that just because
a stadium is built doesn't guarantee that there will be AAA-level
baseball in Albuquerque.

- the Sports Stadium was built in 1969 for $1.5 million

- Bob Lozinak purchased the Dukes for around $330,000 in 1978 from
the Dodgers and sold them team to Portland Family Entertainment
for an estimated $10-12 million in 2000

- Texas League President Tom Kayser says there is no interest in
putting a league franchise in Albuquerque.  The Texas League is
AA level baseball.  He cited that negatives to adding Albuquerque
as a franchise is that Albuquerque was too large to have a AA
franchise, and travel and other expenses would increase due to
having to extend the league territory to the west to include
Albuquerque.  He says there are several teams in the current league
territory that he would consider adding if the rights conditions
existed.

- the University of New Mexico Lobos baseball team may end up using the
Sports Stadium in 2001.  When the Sports Stadium was built in 1969,
UNM owned the land and gave the city the right to use the land for
free to build a stadium.  If Albuquerque is not able to gain a new
franchise to temporarily play in the Sports Stadium while a new
stadium is built, UNM will take over ownership of the land and the
Lobo baseball team may end up playing their home games there under
the lights and could attract regional tournaments.  The current Lobo
Field has no lockerroom and has just bleachers and a press box and
no lights.

- Robert's commentary: from what I've seen, I don't think too many people
would be disappointed if we did not end up with a AAA franchise.  I love the
game of baseball, I guess I've been spoiled by the fact we've had a
AAA-level team.  Since I love the game so much, I wouldn't care if it was a
rookie league, A, AA, AAA or even major league club.  I just want to be able
to enjoy professional baseball again in Albuquerque and I will go see a team
no matter what professional level they are.