McFarland: WCBL may expand East in the future
Andrews Field in Brandon, Man., could potentially make a good home for a Western Canadian Baseball League expansion team. Photo: Alberta Dugout Stories
*This article was originally published on Alberta Dugout Stories on August 27. You can read it here.
August 28, 2024
By Joe McFarland
Alberta Dugout Stories
Is Brandon, Manitoba the next destination for the Western Canadian Baseball League?
It’s a question that is up for debate now as the summer collegiate circuit looks at potential expansion destinations in the next decade.
The idea first came to light during the WCBL’s All-Star Game festivities in 2023, when league president Kevin Kvame discussed the options available for new franchises.
At the time, it felt like a bit of an afterthought, but it seems a new province might be more realistic than expected.
“We’ve had interest expressed from Brandon,” Kvame told the Rod Pedersen Show in a recent interview. “Nothing imminent, so I don’t want baseball fans in Brandon to say, ‘Oh great, this is coming next year.’ No, it’s not.”
He says nothing is finalized and no application for a franchise has been made, but it could another major step towards the league continuing to grow in Western Canada.
WHEAT CITY WALLOPED
Brandon’s recent relationship with summer collegiate baseball was a rocky one to say the least.
The Expedition League was founded in 2015 and launched with eight teams in the summer of 2018.
A year later, the Wheat City Whiskey Jacks made their debut at Andrew Field in Brandon, struggling to a 12-52 record and a last-place finish in the Lewis Division.
Like many other sports, the 2020 season was washed out due to the COVID-19 pandemic while the Whiskey Jacks had to play their 2021 campaign out of Grand Forks, North Dakota because of cross-border restrictions.
That would be the last summer for the Whiskey Jacks, as the team folded in the midst of mounting bills.
It became a common theme for the league as a whole, which was reduced to just four teams for the 2022 season before shutting down operations for good.
HOPPING ON THE BUS
Being a 3-3.5 hour drive from Weyburn and Regina, Brandon might be a reasonable destination for East Division teams looking for a new rival.
It’s a distance that doesn’t phase the Western Hockey League, where the Brandon Wheat Kings have been the eastern-most organization for many years (aside from a few seasons with the Winnipeg Ice).
The bigger challenge, logistically, would be for the cross-divisional matchups, where a new Manitoba team would have to travel 11.5 hours to Okotoks, Sylvan Lake or Edmonton, or just over 14 hours to and from Fort McMurray.
Another question mark that might linger would be fan support.
The Whiskey Jacks, during the lone 2019 season of home games in Brandon, averaged just 365 fans during their 29 home games.
Given the success of the new Saskatoon Berries at the ticket office, there is a path that has been forged for them to follow.
The one benefit Brandon has over any other potential applicant would be facility, where Andrews Field was built in 1987 and has hosted national and international tournaments.
With a capacity of 2,000, it would also be in line with the size for other East Division markets like Cairns Field in Saskatoon and Currie Field in Regina.
WORKS IN PROGRESS
If there’s one thing Kvame is known for, it’s that he likes round numbers.
As one of the main schedule-makers for the WCBL, he will undoubtedly want another team to join if Brandon is starting to get interest.
The next logical step is Airdrie, a city of over 85,000 that Kvame says would help sew up the Calgary market.
“There’s been some work done in Airdrie,” he told Pedersen. “It would be a great market to compete with the (Okotoks) Dawgs.”
Once the Edmonton Prospects’ move to Spruce Grove is complete and everything is working well, Kvame says a second team in the capital region is also on the league’s wish list.
Several other markets are also on the radar as potential landing spots, including Grande Prairie and Drumheller in Alberta, Prince Albert and North Battleford in Saskatchewan, and the border city of Lloydminster.
However, in all cases, the biggest issue is facilities – or lack thereof.
STAYING TUNED
While talk of expansion in the next decade is exciting for the league, Kvame is also mindful of where the league is at now.
As governors met in Okotoks for the annual WCBL Home Run Derby and All-Star Game in July, he said “stability” was the number one topic for discussion.
“How to keep the league stable, how to protect all of the franchises that are in the league and also looking into the future,” he said during the pre-game broadcast on HomeTeam Live, adding it has been a great year so far.
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Listen to Alberta Dugout Stories’ 2024 WCBL Home Run Derby and All-Star Game episode here.
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Kvame says the league continues to trend in the right direction with record-setting attendance numbers, growing website and social media presences, and strong corporate and community partnerships.
Adding to the business success has been the on-field product, not just with teams but more players with connections to the WCBL were taken in the 2024 MLB Draft than any year previous.
The increase in interest and exposure to the league is only making it more of a draw for potential business and municipal partners to look into the potential of the league heading towards its goal of 16 teams.
“We always have open doors to people who have a vision and want to talk about that or communities with their councils that want to talk about growth of the league,” Kvame said. “I guess we’ll wait for the next shoe to drop.”
In other words: stay tuned.