Spinning in Lowell: City seeks to keep Sox affiliate

By: Marisa Ingemi

For the Lowell Spinners, the former textile manufacturing city's minor league baseball team, Covid-19 stole their 25th anniversary season.

But the team is in danger of losing more than just that: It's widely considered to be in the crosshairs of cuts Major League Baseball is planning for minor league affiliates.

Around 25 percent, or 42 teams, are expected to be cut as Major League Baseball squads transition to hosting just four Minor League affiliate clubs, and completely eliminating short-season Single A, the brand of baseball Lowell has played host to since 1995.

The current agreement between MLB and MiLB ends Sept. 30.

Even if the Spinners, an independently owned operation, continue as an independent team, losing the affiliation with the Red Sox would be a brutal blow — to the team and the city.

“Minor League Baseball teams greatly benefit the communities they call home, financially and culturally,” said Lori Trahan, a Lowell native who represents the Congressional district anchored by the city. “For many families in Lowell and the Merrimack Valley, the Lowell Spinners are part of the fabric of the community. … Minor League Baseball teams like the Spinners provide a light at the end of the tunnel.”

MLB plans to add at least two independent clubs, in Minnesota and Texas, so they would have 120 affiliated teams, and ESPN reported another team in New Jersey could enter the mix, which would then cause MLB to eliminate 43 of their current Minor League affiliations.

As of now, team owners don’t know whether their teams are on the cut list. Owners are under gag owners from MiLB. Spinners owner Dave Heller declined to comment.

“It’s a hard time for these teams right now,” said MiLB communications director Jeff Lantz. “Their source of revenue is gone, in addition to uncertainty around the professional baseball agreement and Major League Baseball’s plan for each individual team. It’s making for a really hard summer. We really don’t know what teams are going to be on the next list of teams that will be kept by Major League Baseball. They haven’t shared that with us, and we don’t expect to see it.”

Lost summer

In a normal season, the Spinners bring in $500,000 in donations alone in revenue, averaging in the ballpark of $50,000 or so per home game. Losing an entire summer is tough to rebound from no matter the circumstances.

“My son is young and loves baseball,” said Jeff Esposito, a longtime Spinners fan who frequents games every season. “Over the past two years, we've been taking him to Spinners games, as they are an affordable way to see pro ball. At nine years old, he is too young for an expensive Sox ticket and the experience is top notch."

In 2019, the Spinners averaged 3,051 fans in attendance per game, slightly down from the previous season, following an 11-year sellout streak. Spinners tickets sell for an average of $41 on SeatGeek, while Red Sox tickets averaged $140 on similar ticket-resale websites. The majority of Spinners season ticket holders have rolled credits for next season, meaning the team didn’t have to issue refunds for the lost season.