After spending a season watching baseball in Frisco at the Dr
Pepper/7-Up Ballpark I have been even more convinced that what Tyler
needs is a new, state-of-the-art baseball park. Most Frisco Roughriders
fans were what I call "Southern California" fans. They showed up late
and left early. And they didn't seem to even care that the Riders were
in the Texas League Championship. The overwhelming majority could not
tell you the previous game's score. Indeed, many didn't even know the
score of the game they were attending. And they had even more vague
ideas about who the players were. Some didn't even know it was Double A
or that the Riders were a Rangers farm team. Why they came to the games
was a mystery... they were obviously not baseball fans. Perhaps it was
nothing more that a way to kill a couple of hours while the kids were
entertained. It didn't matter why they came... but they DID come to the
tune of over 9000 per game.

What drew them was not necessarily baseball, that was merely a backdrop
for an evening out. What drew them was an aggressive marketing program,
affordable seating, flexible ticket plans, a fantastic stadium, and
support from the Frisco/Collin County business community. Oh sure, it
helped that millionaire Tom Hicks was involved. But that was no
guarantee of success. He was the financial catalyst but that alone did
not make it work in Frisco. It was all those factors: financial
backing, support of the business community, an impressive new stadium in
the heart of Frisco economic center, marketing, and affordable, flexible
ticketing.

Will Tyler ever have a minor league team? Well, Frisco provides the
example of what it takes. Everything of what it takes is missing in
Tyler. It doesn't take an East Texas Post Hole Digger (PHD) to
ascertain the answer.

Tom

Cynde Frizzell wrote:

> Yes, but what can we DO to get a team of some sort here?? We're all poor,
> and being just peons, nobody with money is going to listen to what WE
> want.
> And the city is certainly NOT going to build a new stadium, which is
> what we
> really need. Too bad there aren't any "A" leagues close by. Then,
> maybe if
> we could get an "affiliated team", the town might be more supportive
> (maybe
> Earl Campbell would be interested!?! It's not football, but a "football
> player" would be involved...oh boy!!)
>
> Oh, well...
>
> Cynde
>
>