It was announced today that Endeavour Group Holdings is buying 9 minor league teams: Gwinnett Stripers (Braves AAA), Iowa Cubs (Cubs AAA), Memphis Redbirds (Cardinals AAA), Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees AAA), Mississippi Braves (Braves AA), Hudson Valley Renegades (Yankees High-A), Rome Braves (Braves High-A), Augusta GreenJackets (Braves Low-A), and San Jose Giants (Giants High-A).
With the new Player Development License structure where each team is locked into a major league affiliate for ten years, there is less of a desire for major league teams to own the minor league teams. There were definitely instances where some major league teams wanted to have a closer affiliate and purchased a team to guarantee that they wouldn’t be stuck in a location that they didn’t want. Most of these teams were previously owned by major league teams. Another result that I anticipate is that I would expect these teams to get new nicknames that no longer reflect the major league affiliate. That’s been a trend over time, but I would expect to see rebranding with the new ownership.
