Prospector Baseball Group Buys Two MiLB Clubs at The Same Time
Sportsbusinessjournal.com announced that the Prospector Baseball Group, a relatively new player in the MiLB market, has acquired two MiLB teams. One at AA level, and one at AAA level. So far, the group was owner of only one independent club.
The clubs that were acquired are the Akron RubberDucks (AA affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians) and the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (AAA affiliate of the Miami Marlins).
The sale, at an undisclosed price, was approved Tuesday by MLB. The minor-league clubs had been owned by Ken Babby, now the CEO of the Rays.
In October the Prospector Baseball Group acquired the Lancaster Stormers (former Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League). With two new teams added to its portfolio only two months later, the group has an “aggressive” policy regarding buying teams.
With Ken Babby joining the Tampa Bay Rays, both the RubberDucks and the Jumbo Shrimp became a target for buyers and PBG was the fastest to take the bait.
Prospector Baseball Group is lead by sports executive John Abbamondi and tech investor/entrepreneur Ben Boyer. Both are longtime friends and were classmates at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Abbamondi and Boyer started to talk about doing something together in sports a few years ago. This came to fruition in January as they formed PBG, an MiLB holdings company.
With discussions going on about acquiring a next team, the goal of PBG is to get a portfolio of around fifteen teams and perhaps more.
Next to acquiring MiLB clubs, both gentleman are interested in developing real estate next to the baseball clubs they are buying (something like the apartment buildings behind the outfield of the Fort Wayne TinCaps?).
Affordable family fun, local first and baseball stadiums as community centers, are the mantras Abbamondi talked about. As to how PBG can be successful on the business front, Abbamondi said: “It starts with having to overdeliver for your customers. If fans aren’t happy and getting value out of the experience, then we don’t deserve to be in business. We’ll share best practices and swap ideas, but really we’re going to make money by delivering for our fans.”