THE PC: Now that the Louisville Bats have a new majority owner, are the prospects for local beer in the ball yard any brighter?
A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.
Since 1998, the city of Louisville has actively participated in the financing of Louisville Slugger Field.
Whatever the exact proportion of public-private monies devoted to construction and maintenance of the venue, metro government obviously continues to contribute financially in a myriad of ways, both large and small, toward the profitable operation of the ball park and its Triple-A occupant, the Louisville Bats baseball club. Soon the Louisville FC soccer team will be a Slugger Field tenant, too, and share in the largesse.
Slow news week, eh?
No, there is nothing unusual about any of this, and with rare exceptions, Americans seem to accept that sporting venues “work” in this manner, i.e., with public subsidies for private profit generators.
The “major” sporting leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL) are where much of the real money is spent, but this doesn’t mean there aren’t tidy profits to be made further down the hierarchy of minor leagues, as Louisville's business journal documents.
Majority interest in Louisville Bats sold to New York company, by Marty Finley (Business First)
The local partnership team that has owned the Bats for nearly three decades has agreed to sell the majority interest and operating rights for the franchise to New York-based Manhattan Capital Sports Acquisition LLC.
MC Sports also owns the Class A Bowling Green Hot Rods, a minor league Kentucky team in the Midwest League, and the Class AAA Reno Aces of Nevada in the minor league Pacific Coast League.
Given that these matters generally interest me only from the standpoint of whether the “craft” beer selection within Louisville Slugger Field’s turnstiles might improve from its currently wretched depths, what we have here is a classic good news/bad news paradigm.
The bad news: The Bats no longer will possess a majority local ownership share.
The good news: Majority owners from New York, Beijing or even Timbuktu likely couldn’t do any worse than those residing right here in Louisville when it comes to promulgating the ideal of locally brewed craft beer in the ballpark.
Perhaps new blood would bring fresh ideas. After all, as we’ve noted so many times before, baseball clubs at all levels of the game have long since grasped that the very best reason to vend locally-brewed craft beer is market-based. Simply stated, local fans want locally brewed craft beer, and across America, their desires (and cash) are being honored, with a notable exception being in Louisville, where our Bats and their Centerplate hatcheteers continue to succumb to the simple avarice of pay-to-play dealings with multinationals.
So, does the majority stake sale constitutes grounds for optimism?
Alas, probably not.
The local partnership group — president Gary Ulmer; his father, Dan Ulmer; and Louisville businessmen Ed Glasscock, Steve Trager, Ken Huber and Mike Brown— will remain minority partners in the Bats organization. Gary Ulmer also will retain his leadership role, and the team management structure is expected to stay the same …
… “I don’t think fans will see any difference at all,” (Gary Ulmer) said, adding that it will be “business as usual.”
Oh, dear.
Three decades of antediluvian Philistinism have taught us that Gary Ulmer’s executive suite is the Formica-clad dungeon where beer hope crawls off to die, and now, even with an infusion of outside perspective, we’d have far better odds of Slugger Field beer improvement by regularly playing the lottery and vowing to buy 100% of the ball club with our future winnings.
Could this get any more grimly humorous? Yes, it can, and yet therein lies perhaps the only avenue for better beer’s salvation.
At the news conference, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the Katzoffs understand the treasure they are now safeguarding, telling them Louisville will have "high expectations."
Might these "high expectations" for our civic "treasure" include much needed affirmative action for locally produced goods and services ... like "craft" beer?
As mentioned previously in this space, Mayor Fischer recently convened a study group of local beer industry people, of whom I was one, to meet and discuss ways the city of Louisville might help promote locally brewed beer. A City Hall announcement pertaining to this is slated for next Monday, and the section of the recommendation pertinent to Slugger Field and the Bats is repeated below.
Of course, there's no guarantee that our recommendations will be incorporated into prospective courses of action, but speaking only for myself, the consultative exercise was marked by sincerity all around.
Louisville Metro Breweries in local city owned venues
The mayor’s work group recommends that more local breweries be included in city-sponsored events and on city owned property. Louisville Metro breweries would like the opportunity to sell beer at such events like Waterfront Wednesday, Slugger Field, Iroquois Park, Yum! Center. Also noted, Louisville Metro breweries like to be included in city sponsored events or festivals such as Hike, Bike, and Paddle, Worldfest, and Blues, Brews, and BBQ.
Details for Recommendations
It is widely understood and accepted that Metro Louisville government is an equal opportunity employer, one that seeks to utilize minority, female and handicapped employees, whether when hired directly, or indirectly through contractors, suppliers and vendors. The importance of these precepts extends far beyond beer and brewing, to government’s fundamental aim of providing conditions for the improvement of daily life.
In like fashion, metro Louisville government understands the critical importance of the local economy in a sustainable future, as well as the key position that locally generated food and drink businesses occupy in the city’s outreach, whether within the community itself, or directed toward visitors from elsewhere. Alongside urban bourbon heritage and an explosion in innovative dining, Louisville’s breweries serve as exemplars of this new economy.
Aspects of pre-existing “older” economic systems sometimes must be modified to fit new and evolving realities. As an example, it has remained the case that customary concessions practices in venues for sports and music have evolved from the three-tier alcoholic beverage distribution system at state and federal levels, and to a certain degree, reflect private commercial matters between concessionaires and wholesalers.
And yet, there is nothing fundamentally ‘Louisville” about concessions choices emanating solely from contractual arrangements that the general public never sees. For native and tourist alike, viewing a baseball game at a venue such as Louisville Slugger Field should present the opportunity to inform and offer choices that pertain to the community which laid for the venue’s construction – that speak to Louisville itself.
Reflecting the reality that private for-profit businesses entities and drinks vendors utilize publicly financed venues and facilities, Metro Louisville government seeks to be a positive force in encouraging these entities and vendors to provide equal opportunities for local brewers, precisely because public financing of these venues implies acceptance of the merits of equal opportunity, as well as providing the ideal forum to educate attendees as to the merits of local, sustainable economies.
Metro Louisville government supports the creation of branded, destination concessions areas unique to the venues its taxpayers have financed. It works to educate concessionaires as to the benefits of a contemporary local economy as it pertains to beer and brewing, safe in the knowledge that profit margins for handcrafted beers can be equal to or greater than those for products supplied by multinational breweries.
In short, Metro Louisville government enthusiastically greets the chance to expand local brewing consciousness by use of the landlord’s bully pulpit in venues/events that include, but are not limited to, Slugger Field; Waterfront Wednesday; Iroquois Amphitheater; YUM! Center and Hike, Bike and Paddle.
Actually, I’m cautiously optimistic.
If both the city of Louisville and the Katzoffs
get it, any hired gun concessionaire, Centerplate or otherwise, can be compelled at the point of a pink slip to
get it, too.
Local beer enthusiasts know that Gambrinus gives us the beer. Unfortunately, the Ulmers and Glasscocks of the world keep standing in the way. Maybe ... just maybe ... their time finally will pass.
