Craig Wallin, president of Elkhart-based CTT Communications, announced Monday his company's intent to place an Elkhart County franchise in the Northwoods League, a 70-game collegiate summer circuit. The team would play its first contest in 2011.
Wallin, known in Michiana for more than two decades for his work in television and radio, said being involved with such a baseball endeavor has been "a latent dream for a long time."
But work on the current project dates back only to June 2009 when Wallin found out about the Northwoods League while talking to friend Alan Lyon, whose son, Josh, plays at Indiana University during the school year and played for Waterloo, Iowa, last summer.
Wallin dug deeper into the Northwoods and found out it was a loop that featured teams where most of the towns were similar in size to Elkhart, which has around 52,000 residents, according to City-Data.com.
Of the current 14 Northwoods franchises, Madison, Wis., and Thunder Bay, Ontario, are the largest cities at just under 210,000 and just under 110,000, respectively, and Alexandria, Minn., and Brainerd, Minn., are the smallest at just under 9,000 and just over 13,000, respectively. The average is just over 70,000.
"Madison is the top draw," Wallin said of a club that drew an average of 5,991 for 33 dates in 2009. "That's the club that everybody looks to. If we could do half what they do, we'd be doing very well."
Wallin said Elkhart County's 2,500-seat stadium (3,000 with standing room) is tailored to the league average. The number in 2009 was 1,725.
The 70-game season (35 home, 35 road) begins in early June and ends in mid-August.
"That's very manageable," Wallin said.
Wallin expects to serve as CEO/general manager of the team for at least the first season. He anticipates having an assistant general manager and other staff.
Many Northwoods teams utilize interns. Grace College, which offers a sports management course, has indicated interest in having its students gain experience while working with the Elkhart County team.
With Wallin's media background, he plans for Elkhart County to have a presence on TV and radio.
Wallin said four cameras will be shooting at every home game with the feed available on the team Web site (which Wallin hopes will launch by the fourth fiscal quarter in late fall or early winter) and a few games broadcast locally and in other Midwest markets over the air on tape delay.
The vast majority of Northwoods teams broadcast their games on over-the-air and/or the Internet, and Elkhart County should join that list.
Wallin said he anticipates that the fourth quarter is also when the Elkhart County team will announce its management team since that is when it will begin making payments to the league.
"We want this to be a destination for any player in the league," Wallin said.
As the original play-by-play announcer for the South Bend franchise (then known as the White Sox), Wallin has a long-standing relationship with the South Bend Silver Hawks and has discussed the possibility of cross promotion with the Low Class-A Midwest League club.
"I'd love to be able to schedule our games when the Silver Hawks are away," Wallin said. "I hope (the relationship) is not competitive in nature."
Wallin expects that many college players who take the field in Elkhart County will later play pro ball in the MWL and play at South Bend's Coveleski Stadium.
The Elkhart County team has entered into a tentative lease agreement with the Indiana Chargers Baseball Academy, an organization ran by Joel Mishler, Ben Bailey and George Hofsommer based in Shipshewana that caters to players aged 18-and-under, to use its facilities for training.
The stadium is to be located at the Pine Creek at 17 complex on the east side of C.R. 17 across Elkhart Sports Center and Signature Lanes and next to the U.S. 20 Bypass. The complex entrance is Verdant.
"Location was very important to us," Wallin said. "We looked at eight different sites and not one came close to (the chosen site). Current plans call for groundbreaking in the spring. Wallin said the field will likely be laid in August or September.
Located in the crossroads of Elkhart, Goshen and Middlebury, Wallin said that the team will be known as Elkhart County.
Story by Steve Krah of the Elkhart Truth
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