The rumors were finally confirmed this week – the AirHogs have been sold. The new owners are Southern Independent Baseball, LLC. Last year, SIB was the owner of the Shreveport-Bossier Captains. This year, they own the Captains, the AirHogs and the Amarillo Sox (newly moved from Pensacola.) So, one company owns 60% of the Southern Division of the American Association, leaving El Paso and Ft Worth as the other teams.
Frankly, I’m surprised there aren’t rules against this. Of course, El Paso is owned by the company that just sold the AirHogs, so it’s not like it’s new news, but even with independent subsidiaries running each team, there just seems to be a lot of possible conflicts of interest. However, teams are already helping other teams stockpile talent for playoff runs, so I guess this will just make it more efficient.
If you read the bios for the SIB management, they’ve been around independent baseball a lot – owning teams, managing leagues and various other positions.
Independent baseball is a very small pond, I suppose.
So, the front office management is in place. Next, is field management. Then, play ball!