http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local...1a4bcf6878.html

 

I get all the reasons why having the low A team in Kannapolis makes sense, with the high A and AAA teams both also in North Carolina.

 

However, the Sox really need to look at the big picture of generating interest in the Major League Team. Interest in the Sox was very high in Northern Indiana when South Bend was a Sox affiliate. Fans paid attention every time a SB player got promoted to AA or AAA, and when one got promoted to Chicago it was on the front page of the sports section of the newspaper and the lead sports story on the local news.

 

I don't believe that the major league attendance bump from moving back to South Bend would be insignificant.

The White Sox deal with Kanny runs through 2018.

 

http://voices.suntimes.com/sports/white-so...is-great-falls/

That would be great, but as SS2K5 pointed out, they just recently extended them through 2018. Also, Kannapolis is considering building a new park in their downtown area. Just not happening I'm afraid.

 

That would be great, but as SS2K5 pointed out, they just recently extended them through 2018. Also, Kannapolis is considering building a new park in their downtown area. Just not happening I'm afraid.

 

And it would have been very cool. I went to games at the Cove when it opened, just because it was White Sox affiliated, and it was dirt cheap.

I wouldn't expect any Sox affiliate moves for at least 3-4 years. The top 3 affiliates all have new or near-new parks and are drawing a ton of people, with great facilities for the players. The Sox even took an ownership stake in the Dash last year. Kannapolis is extended through 2018 and likely getting a new park in the next few years. Great Falls also extended through 2018. The AZL club has the Camelback facility and is ideal for the club.

 

I love the idea but it doesn't seem like it will happen. I wish the Sox had a local affiliate. It is a way to steal young fans from the Cubs. When I was a kid there were Sox and Cubs fans in my family. I could've gone either way. The White Sox had Frank Thomas and that made the decision easy for me. If the White Sox start churning out prospects and local kids got to go see a Sox affiliate in Schaumburg or somewhere and identify with the players they could follow them all through the system and into the major leagues.

I wish all of the affiliates were in the area, but sadly that won't happen.

 

Keeping them all relatively close is the next best thing, even though Birmingham is kinda on its own island.

I wouldn't expect any Sox affiliate moves for at least 3-4 years. The top 3 affiliates all have new or near-new parks and are drawing a ton of people, with great facilities for the players. The Sox even took an ownership stake in the Dash last year. Kannapolis is extended through 2018 and likely getting a new park in the next few years. Great Falls also extended through 2018. The AZL club has the Camelback facility and is ideal for the club.

Oddly, there was a report this morning on SSS that GF was not being renewed, but the story is now removed, and was apparently wrong.

Oddly, there was a report this morning on SSS that GF was not being renewed, but the story is now removed, and was apparently wrong.

Yes, see the Catch-All thread. We caught that and pointed it out. The newspaper that published it corrected their story, and SSS took theirs down.