Jam Finished...Who's Next?
We found out on Home Turf Wednesday that the Bakersfield Jam were calling it quits and leaving the NBA D League just three years after the club was started. Another Bakersfield sports team bites the dust leaving me concerned about the sports climate in this city.
It's no stretch to point out, Bakersfield is a great High School sports town...parents are dedicated to their kids, they'll enroll them in three sports a year and not miss a game. We'll pack 2,000 plus in for a high school basketball or even more for a football game, but when it comes to minor leagues, we just don't care.
I know you'll throw the Condors on me, but they're an exception. Hockey is foreign to Bakersfield, nobody grew up playing it and thus it intrigues sports fans here in town. Plus the chance of bloodshed at a game and two players dropping gloves helps pack the house. But even ask the Condors and they'll probably admit, attendance was less than they hoped this season.
But when it comes to other minor league sports, Arena Football, D-League basketball, we're just not the market for another side show. Even minor league baseball, the longest standing franchise in the city is on the rocks, with the possibility of the Bakersfield Blaze leaving at season's end.
Since 2006 when the Jam started, we had four minor league teams. The Bakersfield Blitz of the AF2, the Jam of the NBADL, the Condors of the ECHL and the Blaze of the Cal League.
As it stands now we've lost a second soldier in this ever growing battle for attendance and overall fan support, and the Blaze could be next. We love our high school sports, football especially, but we can't get behind minor league teams for some reason. Maybe we have too many options on TV, maybe we're too busy with jobs and kids sports, but we're very close to becoming the Syberia of the minor leagues.
And Wednesday night, call it fitting but the lights kept going out at Sam Lynn Ballpark forcing the postponement of the Blaze-Modesto game. Ironic? I think so. The lights may be going out for good on that franchise soon, and we'll become a one-trick pony again.
It's no stretch to point out, Bakersfield is a great High School sports town...parents are dedicated to their kids, they'll enroll them in three sports a year and not miss a game. We'll pack 2,000 plus in for a high school basketball or even more for a football game, but when it comes to minor leagues, we just don't care.
I know you'll throw the Condors on me, but they're an exception. Hockey is foreign to Bakersfield, nobody grew up playing it and thus it intrigues sports fans here in town. Plus the chance of bloodshed at a game and two players dropping gloves helps pack the house. But even ask the Condors and they'll probably admit, attendance was less than they hoped this season.
But when it comes to other minor league sports, Arena Football, D-League basketball, we're just not the market for another side show. Even minor league baseball, the longest standing franchise in the city is on the rocks, with the possibility of the Bakersfield Blaze leaving at season's end.
Since 2006 when the Jam started, we had four minor league teams. The Bakersfield Blitz of the AF2, the Jam of the NBADL, the Condors of the ECHL and the Blaze of the Cal League.
As it stands now we've lost a second soldier in this ever growing battle for attendance and overall fan support, and the Blaze could be next. We love our high school sports, football especially, but we can't get behind minor league teams for some reason. Maybe we have too many options on TV, maybe we're too busy with jobs and kids sports, but we're very close to becoming the Syberia of the minor leagues.
And Wednesday night, call it fitting but the lights kept going out at Sam Lynn Ballpark forcing the postponement of the Blaze-Modesto game. Ironic? I think so. The lights may be going out for good on that franchise soon, and we'll become a one-trick pony again.
posted by Corey Costelloe at
12:09 AM
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