Minor League news from Kannapolis

The Kannapolis Intimidators, named after NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt sr, are on the verge of being sold.

The Sally League (A Full Season) affiliate of the Chicago White Sox will be sold by Smith Family Baseball to a group led by Reese Smith III.

The lease of the stadium has been transfered to Intimidators Baseball Club LLC as this passed in a Kannapolis city council vote.

The Intimidators are one of the worst drawing teams in MiLB. In the past season 135,727 visited Intimidators Stadium, only third worse after the Savannah SandGnats (125, 587) and the Hagerstown Suns (68,688). But despite the third lowest number of fans passing the turnstiles, the attendance rose with ten percent compared with 2014. Intimidators Stadium is a twenty-year old facilty that needs a renovation and a makeover. But there is no room for expanding the site as it lies next to a protected watershed zone. Therefore
the city of Kannapolis is analyzing the possibility of a sports and entertainment venue in downtown Kannapolis.

The Intimidators managed to win only one championship in their 21-year existence. As their predecessor, the Piedmont Phillies, the team reached the 1995 Sally League Championship series, but fell to the Augusta GreenJackets.
As written before, the team was named after Dale Earnhardt sr., who bought a share in the club in 2000. One year later, the NASCAR driver would be killed in an accident at the Daytona 500. The number of his car, #3, was retired by the club in 2002 in remembrance of their late co-owner.

I am always a bit wary when a new owner comes to a minor league town. Quite often it ends in a move of the team elsewhere. For now the city is looking to replace Intimidators Stadium with a new ballpark, but if that plan falls through, the Intimidators may be the next team on the move.