While currently operating under bankruptcy protection, the San Angelo Colts of United League Baseball will play their final home game of the season on Friday. With eight remaining home games following Friday, the Colts plan to switch their remaining home games to other ULB venues.
Along with recent court decisions, the move puts not only the future of the Colts in jeopardy -- but the future of United League Baseball in jeopardy as well.
1st Community Federal Credit Union of San Angelo, a lien holder on the bank accounts and receivables of the Colts, had sought to cut off the Colts' ownership -- which is essentially ULB ownership under John Bryant and Byron Pierce -- but U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Texas allowed owners to use cash collateral until January 1, 2015. They also ordered that the group pay $3,000 annually on debt on the 15th of the month, and placed other conditions on the usage of collateral. This amount isn't enough to cover the mortgage of Foster Field -- the home ballpark of the Colts -- and the issue remains how the owners will restructure the debt now that they are not generating income from the ballpark.
The Colts, as well as the rest of the ULB, have one glaring issue: drawing fans to their games. The ULB consist of four teams (the Fort Worth Cats, Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings, Brownsville Charros and the aforementioned San Angelo Colts) and currently play their games out of three venues. Brownsville and Rio Grande share Harlingen Field, the Fort Worth Cats play out of LaGrave Field and the Colts currently play at Foster Field. With the Colts no longer playing games at their current venue after Friday, the ULB will have just two locations for four teams to play out of. This does not bode for the ULB's attendance numbers, nor does it bode well for the future of the league.
As of Wednesday, the ULB has drawn just 105,316 fans to all 135 of their games this season. That's a league wide average of 780 fans a game. The Colts have drawn the least amount of fans this season, as they've drawn a total of 17,628 fans in their 44 home games -- averaging a dismal 401 fans a game. It doesn't look like the Colts are giving their fans a great in-game experience, either. There are few between-innings games or promotions, no game broadcast and there are also limited food and beverage offerings.
To make matters worse for the ULB, the rest of the league is scuffling too when it comes to drawing fans to their games. The Fort Worth Cats lead the ULB in attendance so far this season, as they have drawn a total of 60,314 fans in their 47 home games -- averaging 1,283 fans a game. LaGrave Field is the only ULB venue that draws more than 650 fans a game, and it accounts for nearly 60% of the ULB's attendance.
LaGrave Field is owned by the ULB outright, and it is the league's best asset. However, with the league struggling to draw fans to their ball games, it may be time to rethink their business plan going forward. If this continues, the ULB could quickly see themselves fold and become just another defunct independent baseball league.