The owners of the Cedar Rapids Kernels minor league baseball franchise are making a bid to purchase the Waterloo Bucks of the Northwoods League. Doug Nelson is the Kernels’ general manager. “We started discussions right around the first of the year, we are still having talks and kind of the next step is working with the Northwoods League — which is the league the Waterloo Bucks play in. And securing their approval for the purchase,” Nelson says.
Nelson says the purchase would help both teams because they would be able to share resources. “It’s a very nice geographical fit for us, Waterloo being about 50-60 miles form Cedar Rapids, it’s far enough away that it’s a different market for us, yet is close enough that we can share resources,” Nelson explains.
Nelson says the purchase does not mean the Midwest League will be expanding to Waterloo. He says the Bucks would remain in the Northwoods League and continue to be a summer collegiate baseball team and Cedar Rapids would continue to be a minor league club affiliated with the Minnesota Twins.
Nelson says they are hoping to close on the sale sometime this fall to allow them to be running the team in 2015. Bucks General Manager Dan Corbin says that the sale would mean the two clubs would be able to share resources in future seasons. He says they have a front office of 3, which is one of the smaller ones in the league and the sale would give them more resources.
Corbin stresses that should the sale go through, the Bucks would be staying in Waterloo and within the Northwoods League. He says that the Kernels are looking to bring another revenue stream into the fold, as well as get some new ideas that he and the Cedar Rapids General Manager have already been sharing. He says they have been meeting over the last several years to share ideas and instead of doing that once a year, they would now be doing it on a more regular basis.
Another aspect of the agreement would require the Kernels to take over the remainder of the Bucks’ lease on Riverfront Stadium. Corbin says there are 3 or 4 years left on the lease.
By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls