I am Jeff Rea, your host for economic outlook.

Welcome to our show, where each week we take a deep dove into the regional economy and the people, the companies, the communities and projects that are helping our region grow.

This winter, Major League Baseball announced the most sweeping changes in history to minor league baseball.

The changes could have big impacts on communities that have kids.

We'll take a closer look at those changes and give you a sneak peek at what's ahead for the Southland Cubs and Minor League Baseball here in our region coming up on Economic Outlook.

25 00:00:34,850 --> 00:00:35,850 Baseball greats like Juan Marichal, Albert Pujols, Clayton Kershaw, Mike Trout and Paul Molitor once called the Midwest League home.

Now the next generation stars are getting ready to lace it up and continue on their baseball journey.

But minor league baseball will look a little different this year to help you understand all of the changes and what you need to know heading into this season.

I'm sitting down today with Dick Nussbaum's, the president of the Midwest League, and my co-host, George Lepeniotis will be sitting down with Joe Hart, the president general manager of the South Bend Cubs.

And just one other note before we get started here at WNIT.

We're respecting social distancing and as such, have both of our guests and our hosts join us today virtually.

Dick, thank you and welcome to our show today.

Thank you, Jeff.

This is something I look forward to a lot each year.

I tell you, it's one of my favorites.

Unfortunate.

There's never enough time.

I'm a huge baseball fan, but I love the kind of catching up with what's what's going on.

And especially this year, given changes.

And I think back is we've had you before Midwest League been around since the 1940s.

And so so talk to us just a little bit about the Midwest League in its history, what's kind of been going on with it?

Well, this is kind of a bittersweet year for the Midwest League, Jeff, in this respect, we talked a little bit last year about the changes between Major League Baseball and minor league baseball, and those kind of came to fruition over the last couple of months.

And what what it's being sorted out at this point is there's now forty three forty three communities, forty three teams that have been contracted and actually are going to be under a different system.

So under what we knew is minor league baseball affiliated minor league baseball before, there's one hundred twenty teams, 12 of which will be in the Midwest.

So we're down from 16 to 12.

And when I say.

The Midwest league, that's a little bit of a misnomer at this point, and, you know, depending upon your outlook, the new the new organizational structure has eliminated the minor league baseball umbrella organization, the National Association, as well as the laagues.

So the Midwest League is is is in terms of the teams that will be playing, they will be playing in what's called a high A essential league.

And the Midwest League is is is no longer.

And so my role will change.

And but I think the good the good things about that and we'll talk a little bit more detail about this organization, I'm sure.

But for the fans, they're not going to notice any difference.

It's you know, it's it's a different structure.

When you put the covid plus this structure, it's been it's been a wild couple of years.

Let me just let me just say that.

So the Midwest League started in 1947.

Its final season under that kind of rubric will be 2019.

And thank God we had the all star game here that year.

And I've got a picture up on my refrigerator of of me and a couple of my grandkids out on the field with the June 17 2019 on the scoreboard.

So that'll be something that I'll always remember with great fondness.

That's a pretty special day and really a fun memory here for us.

And I love the fact that the come in again and fans won't notice much difference.

Let's just back up, though, for a second, because you mentioned some communities will not have teams in affiliated.

So I think of Clinton, for example, which I think has been with you from the beginning, or Kane County.

So maybe just from a high level perspective, talk about why minor league baseball is so important to communities and kind of the impact that it's had or the influence it had on the development in those communities.

Well, Jeff, you probably know better than most the economic impact that minor league teams have from a dollars and cents point employment and things along those lines.

We could spend a whole show on that.

But I think even more important than that, it gives a community identity.

I thought when the South Bend team came into existence in 1988, that it was really a turning point because it gave South Bend from a sports perfect perspective, kind of its own identity.

I, of course, love Notre Dame and Notre Dame means so much to our community.

But, you know, sometimes it overshadows the community itself and not I'm not criticizing anyone for that.

But I just thought when you saw the word South Bend on the front of a jersey, it was pretty special, pretty special for the community.

And in its far more than South Bend, its Mishawaka, its Goshen, its it's the whole region is able to, you know, adopt the team and and enjoy the play at Fourwinds Field.

So the 2020 season had to be scrapped because of covid, obviously, these teams and communities rely very heavily on traffic and ticket.

Talk a little bit about covid impact and then and then maybe look ahead.

COVID obviously still with us and how it might impact things like the schedule or even protocols this year.

Yeah, schedules are very important.

The recently the Major League Baseball released the schedule.

They're the ones doing the scheduling now.

And as part of the new organization, the maximum number of games will be one hundred and.

Thirty two, but this year, given the COVID situation, it's going to be 120, which actually is a little bit better than we thought we were going to get.

So the season is going to start May 4th, obviously with the COVID protocols.

It's not going to be a full state full, but it seems like spring training games.

For instance, there was a game on Saturday in Tampa, the Yankees and the Pirates.

There is about twenty five hundred people in the in the ballpark.

So, you know, depending upon the state regulations and all those kinds of things, I would expect that we're going to be able to get our way May 4th and we'll probably be at about twenty five percent level is going to there's a lot of protocols involved.

I mean, the one thing that I have to give Major League Baseball credit for and the Players Association is that they have done a remarkable job of setting up the protocol.

So, you know, it's going to be the same for the minor leagues as well.

So the intimacy between the player and a fan is not going to be there for most of the season.

But, you know, as we've been told by the experts, as the summer comes into play later in the summer, I think we'll be able to get more back to normal with regard to those kinds of things.

Dick you mentioned that the levels are changing so in fact, that many of the former invidiously teams moving up to high A for those are viewers who are kind of unfamiliar with the different classifications.

Help us understand maybe kind of the different levels and what high A means.

Sure as part of this organization I mentioned one hundred and twenty teams that works out mathematically to four four levels for each Major League team, 30 Major League teams, four level.

So the four levels are way, way higher or lower.

There used to be other teams that were called short season eight teams, so there's not going to be any more short season teams are all going to be full season.

And so Midwest League was the was the lowest level all season.

Now it's the next highest level.

So the prospects that will be coming through South Bend and the other teams and what was the Midwest League will be better than I think the play will be better, which is a great thing for our community and the rest of the communities within within the Midwest.

And it's a it's a pat on the back and a real complement to to to the Midwest League and to its various communities that support their teams.

So minor league baseball has this challenge of one developing players ultimately to play in the major league, but also about fan experience in the communities that in our last two minutes or so, it's just a little bit about just kind of that balance and kind of that.

Maybe the ballpark Experience the community Experience the things that that minor league baseball is doing to try to cultivate the next generation of baseball fans.

Well, that's at the local level more than anything else.

Major League Baseball is most concerned about player development.

And and there's there's a lot of behind the scenes things that that are going to occur at the ballpark that the fans won't really see, like a larger locker rooms, better nutritional areas and better training areas, those kinds of things.

But you take the South Bend team, for instance, and they're their role and their goal is to make everybody leave, leave the ballpark with a big smile on their face and want to come back and see if that's done a great job of that.

And I think that's what you're going to see more of this year.

Obviously, a pent up demand.

I missed it.

I'm sure you missed it.

And I'm sure three hundred and fifty thousand people in this community, in this region missed it.

So, again, I think that you will continue to see better food, more fun.

Certainly what was a very clean facility is going to be a sanitized facility and socially distance facility.

But, you know, like I said, it'll be a great year.

It's going to be a terrific year Sure our last six.

Sixty seconds or so here Dick, the Midwest tradition did well on the fan side of things.

Talk about this quickly that the trend on baseball fans maybe before the pandemic and whether you think those will come back.

Yeah, I think, as I said before, our attendance numbers probably won't be nearly as good because we're going to be limited in how many people can attend.

But I think that we're a minor.

League Baseball was on an uptick before the before the pandemic.

And I think that uptick will only increase once this season gets underway and we can get more comfortable with it.

And certainly for 2022 and beyond, I would I would predict that with twelve teams instead of sixteen.

That the four million mark, which was attendance of between all those teams, will be hit with 12 teams rather than 16.

That's my prediction.

Thank you, Dick, really appreciate the chance to sit down with each year.

Wish we had a lot more time.

Appreciate your insight on on minor league baseball and what's going on.

Look forward to a great season of a minor league baseball this year.

So now for an inside look at what baseball is going to look like here in South Bend at the stadium.

Let me talk to my co-host, George Lepeniotis for an inside look at what's ahead for the South Bend Cubs.

Thanks, Jeff.

I'm downtown South Bend Fourwinds field, and I'm joined today by our old friend, Joe Hart, president of the South Bend Cubs.

Joe, thanks for being with us.

Thank you for having me.

Joe, I want to start by saying today's a monument to stay for me due to covid.

This is our first field segment in over six months.

So thanks for being my first back.

Hey, not a problem, love.

Any time you can show the ballpark.

And I was just going to say that I couldn't think of a better place to start over again.

So, Joe, I know that that my, my, my, my time on TV is not the only thing that was disrupted by covid.

And we're going to get there when we talk about the South Bend Cubs.

But before we get there, I want to take us back to some of the good years and before we had COVID in our world.

Let's remind our viewers about the South Bend Cubs and how you and your and your team came to be a part of this great organization.

Yeah, it's it's been an amazing run.

It's hard to believe.

I got here in January of 2012.

I look back on it.

It's amazing how quick the years have gone by.

We were South Bend Silver Hawks and we able to start and turn the attendance, get things going again.

2015.

We became a Chicago Cubs affiliate which being this close to Chicago was pretty special.

They win the World Series in 2016 and then you know, we're setting attendance records and then we get to 2019, which was really a monumental year for our organization and really the city of South Bend.

I mean we hosted the 2019 Midwest League All-Star Game which hadn't been held in our city in 30 years.

And then we won the Midwest League Championship, which we hadn't done since 2005.

So, you know, there's there's so many highlights over the last couple of years.

It is pretty amazing.

But again, it's all due to the great community we're in and the great fan support.

So if you're going to have to go on a hiatus due to a pandemic, 2019 would be about where you'd want to time.

Yeah, it man it was, it was 2020 was an interesting year to say the least.

I know it wasn't just effective for us, it was everybody out there but crazy.

Let's go back a little bit though, because there are some key partnerships that you have here.

I know one of them is the Pokagon band and that partnership continues.

You mentioned the Chicago Cubs and you being an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.

I think there's some news there.

Isn't that isn't it?

Right.

Yeah.

It's exciting that as part of some of the redevelopment or restructuring of Major League Baseball, we were able to sign our agreement to be a Chicago Cubs affiliate through the year 2030.

So, you know, all the fans out there, you know, we get asked, how long are you going to be a Cubs affiliate?

You know, it's we're locked in through 2030.

So that's pretty special.

That's a great solid and security, I bet, from a brand perspective.

And also I think, you know, that's been just tied in with how great this place is to be.

You really feel that kinship with a great organization.

You also have a partnership with the city of South that we can't forget that right.

And right before we went on air, you mentioned something that I thought was extremely interesting, and that is that the city had quite the foresight back in the 90s when they built this facility.

And then it really even today has stood the test of time.

Oh, there's no doubt.

I mean, this facility, when you take a look at it and put it up against any other minor league stadium, it's second to none.

It's right up there.

And, you know, the stadium actually, I think opened in 1987, so well over thirty years.

But when people come out, they think it's within five, six years old.

And I think that's a great testament to the city.

Also our owner, Andrew Berlin, I know he's contributed close to eight and a half million dollars of his own money into a city owned asset.

And that's really where the partnership has come in with the city.

And it's it's been outstanding.

I've been in minor league baseball twenty six years now.

I've been with five or six different organizations.

There's been no better relationship with the municipality than what we have here in South Bend.

And happy to report we extended our stadium use agreement to the year 2041.

So we're not going anywhere anytime soon.

Well, that's good.

And we are very excited that you're here to stay.

I know from a fan perspective, we all look forward to getting back to baseball, talking about the investment that Mr. Berlin and his organization and your your leadership have helped spur here.

And we've seen it.

All right.

The the great the televisions, the giveaways, the the water park, the the various types of things that make this a family family friendly event to go to throughout the warmer months, but also the the housing complex right down the Ivy at Berlin place.

It was something I know.

You know, when when Mayor Parent agreed to build the stadium way back when that was part of what they were hoping for, some additional development around the ballpark.

And, you know, happy to say the Ivy Berlin place is one hundred percent completed.

People are moving in.

It's a great venue.

The residents that live there are going to get the opportunity to Experience baseball this year while living there, it's it's been a long time coming for the city, but I think as you look out, it's changed the landscape really of our corner of South Bend.

So the Ivy Berlin place has been a huge hit.

And again, that was another twenty three million dollar investment.

And as viewers can see behind us, you really have that to complete the park.

That did really make it more of a destination.

It used to be fairly vacant out there, kind of an empty field, really.

So that really has anchored that that northeast side of the park.

All right.

Now let's get to 2021.

We're all excited for baseball.

Let's start with prior to your segment, Jeff Rea.

My co-host was in the studio talking to Commissioner Nussbaum about some reorganizations.

I'm sure they touched on it.

But let's start with that.

There has been a pretty major reorganization of minor league baseball.

Yeah, there really has been over the last year, Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball player development agreement expired.

So Major League Baseball wanted to institute some new things as part of that agreement.

And really the main thing was, is there were one hundred and twenty minor league affiliates going forward.

That used to be one hundred and sixty.

So twenty five percent of our industry, those minor league teams no longer have a major league affiliation.

Obviously here in South Bend with our facility, our relationship with the Cubs, you know, we were never really in doubt from that.

But yeah, there's there's 40 less minor league teams that have a major league affiliate now.

So a lot of it was to, you know, one Major League Baseball is looking at cutting back on the draft.

You know, historically, it's been around 40 rounds.

They're looking at taking it to 20 or so with less players.

You don't need as many teams out there.

And and obviously, the facilities, they want to have great facilities.

And that was also some of the reasons some teams got cut.

So the South Bend cubs were never in danger of being cut but it will affect you and both the positive and maybe a slightly negative way.

Let's start with the positives here.

It does make your ability to acquire talent a little easier.

Yeah, and that's the one thing for us is one.

We're also now going to be a high affiliate of the Chicago Cubs for people that don't understand the way the minor leagues work, there had always been low A, high A, double A ,triple A and then the major league.

So there were many steps in the ladder for these players.

We were previous to this year where the low A when guys were advanced from South Bend, they'd go to Myrtle Beach, which was high A.

We essentially flip flop with them.

They're now going to be the low A where the high A.

So you'll see a little bit better talent of baseball here as well.

So that's something that we're excited about.

And again, just continuing as a Cubs affiliation, it's always a positive.

Sure it is.

So you have that you have better talent and maybe a bit more interest, right.

There's less minor league teams around the country now.

So the ones that do exist maybe gain some interest.

Yeah, although you've never had any problem filling the stadium.

No, we haven't.

And, you know, really, for us, if you planted a flag at home plate, we draw consistently really from about 80 mile radius.

And we're even getting to the point now.

You know, we're getting folks from Chicago that come over.

Those die hard come Cubs fans that want to know more about the minor leagues.

They want to see.

These are the up and coming kids.

These are the kids that'll be roaming the friendly confines and three and four years.

So a lot of people want to see them while they're still top prospects.

And while I can't say that coming to for Windfield to see a game is is is quite at the level of going to Wrigley Field, it is a different experience and it is still a very enjoyable experience.

Even if you are familiar with Wrigley Field, you get things here maybe that you don't get at Wrigley, like a lot easier parking.

Yeah, there's no doubt about that.

And we have some other unique things.

You know, we have the splash pad for the kids, the inflatables in the fun zone.

You know, we set up to do here something that you don't really see in a major league ballpark.

When you go to a major league game, you really go you sit in your seats for three hours and a lot of your experience is determined by wins or losses.

For us, that's not so much the case.

We wanted to create a little community entertainment pockets.

We got the tiki hut.

We got the performance center where you can go in and hit and then people just kind of mill around.

It's for us.

We wanted to create a fun social gathering.

Yes, I love when we win.

Don't get me wrong.

2019 was awesome winning the championship.

But at the end of the day it's more about just providing entertainment and creating memories for families for the long term is what we do.

Yeah, and that's what we feel as fans coming into the stadium.

I can tell you that that's generally a very well accepted.

So great job on that.

Now back to 2021.

All right.

So you've got a reorganized league and we've got to deal with you are going to have some restrictions in May that from what I understand.

Governor Holcomb still has in the health department still have some constraints on you, but your hope is maybe by the end of the year to be in full swing.

Yeah, absolutely.

And, you know, at the end of the day, the number one thing I can't stress enough is to our fans when they come out here, they need to feel safe.

And that's our number one priority.

You know, we want our fans to stay safe, the players myself, my front office staff.

So we've been working with the health department even last year during covid, we hosted several events out here that we could do safe and socially distance.

We did some movie nights that were well attended so that.

Our number one priority, it was always our priority even before people came out.

Now it's just heightened a little bit more.

I mean, we had hand sanitizers.

We had, you know, restroom attendants.

So those were the things that we had been doing pre covid so people can feel safe.

But at the end of the day, we'll do what the health department suggests and recommends and we'll we'll work with what Governor Holcomb allows us to do.

But it is exciting.

May 4th is going to be here before we know it.

That's our opening day.

And I think we're something three hundred and fifty five days since our last baseball game.

And that's way too long.

Too long.

I agree.

Now, let's talk about that.

May 5th date, when you when a fan is to come to the stadium on May 5th, what can they expect this year?

I think the biggest thing is they're going to still Experience South Bend Cubs baseball.

From what they remember, we worked extremely hard over the nine years to develop great customer service, good quality of food, great firework shows, giveaways.

The fan experience is not going to change.

And we've been having a lot of Zoom calls with other minor league clubs as we share ideas.

And unfortunately, some clubs are making the decision that, you know, they're going to cut back because of the restrictions.

You know, if I can't have a full house, maybe I won't do that firework show or it's going to be a much smaller firework show for us.

That's not that's not what we're going to do.

I mean, this was not this pandemic was not a cause by something our fans did.

So when they come out here, they're going to be able to experience everything that they have in the past, but they're going to do it safely.

And that's that's what we're excited about.

The still deliver, what everybody remembers with South Bend Cubs baseball.

Well, and that's exciting.

And that's going to help the country and our county and our city and our area get back to get back to a more normal existence.

No one's ever going to go back to pre COVID and we're all going to be a bit more cognizant of our safety and our health.

But it'd be nice to Experience and things like baseball are.

Now, you and I talked last the last time we talked, we talked about, you know, how you were getting increased attendance rates and really kind of what can fans expect this year as far as demand and getting a ticket?

Well, I think the biggest thing is we I think it was 2019.

Well, I think we had forty three sellouts, which is significant, very exciting for us.

I think now with reduced capacities, at least in the month of May, I think it's going to be even more of a challenge to get a ticket to a South Bend Cubs baseball game.

But we're going to do everything we can to accommodate as many as possible and then we'll kind of reevaluate what we can have from a capacity standpoint as the season goes.

I know internally we've kicking around some dates around mid-April, which will put individual tickets on sale once we've been able to satisfy and take care of our season ticket holders that have supported us for the over the years.

It's been a lot of planning and typically the off season set with planning anyways.

But this so is this year's been even more so there's probably eight to 10 plans that we've probably put together that we'll never use, which is a good thing, because that means we're hopefully coming out of it and we'll be able to go back to normal as much as possible.

But I think the number one word has been flexibility and being able to pivot.

And that's what we've been So to fans get out there, get on the website, get your tickets early, make sure you understand the regime.

Joe, thanks for being with us today.

We're out of time, but always a pleasure to be at the ballpark.

The only thing I missed was my hot dog.

And my dear, I get that in May.

Soon enough.

Thank you.

Thanks again for being with us.

Thank you, our viewers, for tuning in this week.

It is exciting to come back to you and be out in the field seeing the places, the people and the organizations that are making an impact on Michiana economy.

On behalf of Jeff Rea, my co-host, as well as our guest, Commissioner Nussbaum and Joe Hart, thank you for tuning in.

And we look forward to seeing you again next week.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.