Toros season off to strong start - on and off field
By Mae Lee Sun, Inside Tucson Business
Published on Friday, June 12, 2009
Already a month into their new season, the Tucson Toros have exceeded expectations.
The independent league baseball team has split their first 10 home games with an average attendance of 4,000 fans and has sold their first player to a major league team.
Earlier this month, the Toros sold right-handed pitcher Andrew Romo to the San Francisco Giants.
The Toros began their season in mid-May and will play home games at Hi Cortbett Field in Reid Park through Aug. 27. The team is due back in town Friday (June 19) for a three-game home stand against the Yuma Scorpians.
It was 1997, the final season for the Toros at Hi Corbett Field. The team had been a Triple-A minor league baseball franchise since 1969. The next year, after affiliating with Major League Baseball’s new Arizona Diamondbacks, Tucson’s minor league team became the Sidewinders and started playing at Tucson Electric Park. That ended last year, after owner and native Tucsonan, Jay Zucker, sold the team because it was an ‘underperforming’ market Pacific Coast League standards and new owners wanted to take it Reno.
Technically, though, when the Toros moved out of Hi Corbett, the team went to Fresno, Calif., where the team is now known as the Fresno Grizzlies, the Triple-A team for the San Francisco Giants. The Sidewinders were actually birthed from the Phoenix Firebirds, who had been the Giants’ minor league team.
And since the Sidewinders have subsequently become the Reno Aces, Zucker saw an opportunity to bring the Toros back to Tucson — and to Hi Corbett Field — as an independent minor league baseball franchise within the Golden Baseball League.
Zucker spent $1 million on the expansion franchise fee for the Toros to join the Golden Baseball League.
In the 10 years he owned the Sidewinders, Zucker says it wasn’t profitable. Although he bought the team for $8 million and sold it for $15 million, when the losses and deferred compensation and capital gains were all factored in, he says there wasn’t a lot left over.
The city’s more centrally-located Hi Corbett Field in Reid Park is a better location will reduce overhead by 40 percent, compared with TEP, Zucker said.
“And, with the demise of Spring Training in Tucson, the Toros are a desirable alternative,” Zucker says. “They appeal to all segments of the market which is why we think we’ll be successful.”
After adding in start-up costs of about $1.5 million and a budget for player, coach and staff salaries of nearly $2 million, Zucker says he’ll be happy if they break even.
Part of his business plan, however, is to have as many players as possible go from the Toros to Major League Baseball team rosters and that will come from being a winning team every season. While the Major League teams will pay an acquisition fee for players, Zucker says that’s not the real revenue generator.
He said he expects the Toros will make money from a combination of advertising and media opportunities that includes selling signage in Hi Corbett’s outfield, ticket sales and food and gift shop concessions.
And Zucker has chosen to keep his marketing efforts in-house and at the grass roots.
“Most of the people within the Toros organization have come from a media background so they know how to do PR,” said Zucker, who has a background as a TV station owner and radio account executive. “We’re holding creative press conferences to expose this sports opportunity to the community and are going out and speaking to organizations like the Rotary and Lions Club to re-establish the Toro’s name and identity.”
He says the team will be expanding its outreach to include chambers of commerce and the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Even in this soft economy, the Toros financial standings are better than they ever were with the Sidewinders. He says season ticket sales have already topped what the Sidewinders sold in their final year.
Upcoming home games
June 19-21, against the Yuma Scorpions
July 4-6, against the Long Beach Armada
July 24-26, against the Victoria Seals
July 28-30, against the Calgary Vipers
*all games will be held at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.tucsontoros.com
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