Wichita Wind Surge baseball team to sell to new group: ‘It’s a whole new ballgame’

Major League Baseball on Monday approved a deal for Jane Schwechheimer and the current ownership group of the Wichita Wind Surge baseball team to sell to Diamond Baseball Holdings, which owns 10 teams and is on a buying spree nationally.

“If I had a headline, it would be, ‘It’s a whole new ballgame,’ ” said Diamond CEO Peter Freund.

“We plan on doing and fulfilling . . . what was originally promised,” he said. “We know how to do it.”

That includes, among other things, offering a more affordable family-friendly experience along with more activities, such as concerts and other events at the ballpark.

Diamond won’t, however, take on the team’s deal to develop around Riverfront Stadium in Delano. The Wind Surge wouldn’t come to Wichita without the agreement, and the city gave the team four acres at $1 apiece as part of the deal.

Wichita Riverfront Limited Partnership and EPC Real Estate Group still are responsible for that development, which has stalled without much explanation.

That’s one of the community’s frustrations with the Wind Surge and its stadium.

Ill feelings linger after taxpayers paid $75 million of the cost for the $85 million ballpark (the ball club paid almost $10 million). Then came the perceived giveaway of nearby land to the club for development. The Wichita City Council drew criticism for approving $10 million in public incentives for the stadium district along with tax breaks for its developers. And, the club slapped an 8 percent charge on all ballpark purchases, which it was compelled to retract a couple of months later.

Despite those issues, Freund said Riverfront Stadium probably is one of the top five facilities in all of Minor League Baseball, which has 120 teams.

“We can’t wait to activate it beyond baseball,” he said. “The point is we believe that that stadium is really underutilized.”

Diamond, which the California-based Silver Lake private equity firm owns, formed in October 2021 and expects to own more than 20 teams by opening day next spring.

“We’ve been in the process of rolling up really wonderful teams in wonderful communities around the country,” Freund said.

Its teams are the Oklahoma City Dodgers, the Iowa Cubs, the Memphis Redbirds, the Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders, the Hudson Valley Renegades, the San Jose Giants, the Gwinnett Stripers, the Mississippi Braves, the Rome Braves and the Augusta GreenJackets.

In a release issued by the Wind Surge, Schwechheimer said, “On behalf of the Club’s owners and in memory of my husband Lou, who championed a vision of the Wind Surge and the stadium, we thank the city of Wichita for its support and passion over the past four years.”

She said the team is in great hands with Diamond.

“We are confident in the DBH team’s continued commitment to Wichita and to fulfilling Lou’s legacy of maximizing what Riverfront Stadium can mean for the community for generations to come.”

Freund said the Wichita acquisition, which should be finalized yet this year for an undisclosed price, isn’t some sort of a national play where Diamond will take what it’s done elsewhere and simply replicate it here.

“We’re hyper local in our approach when it comes to each individual team,” he said. “The fans will not feel like this is a corporate takeover. . . . We’re going to do everything we can to make the best fan experience.”

That includes possibly changing the Wind Surge name.

“We haven’t gotten that far,” Freund said.

It’s something Diamond will consider “if the fans feel strongly that it needs to go.”

Persistence pays off

Generally, when Diamond purchases a new team, it keeps local management, and that will be the case in Wichita except for the top person.

CEO Jordan Kobritz won’t stay with the team, though he will remain CEO of Wichita Riverfront Limited Partnership. That group and EPC Real Estate Group are supposed to do a development that includes an eight-story Dream Hotel Group hotel, a six-story office building with an adjoining 200-spot parking structure and riverfront improvements on the land the city sold for $4.

In early November, The Eagle reported that construction fencing and a sign touting that development, which is supposed to be completed by July 2024, had vanished.

It sounds like the potential sale of the team has not been a big factor in the delay of the development.

Sources said behind-the-scenes negotiations — a mediator was called in to assist with some of the complex aspects of the development — are progressing well.

Kobritz would not comment for this story, but his feelings about taking over Wind Surge leadership following the death of the team’s founder — his close friend Lou Schwechheimer died from COVID-19 in July 2020 during what should have been the team’s first season — are well known.

Not only did Kobritz not want the job, but many Wichitans found his blunt, East Coast-style of speaking to be abrasive, especially in comparison to the more easygoing, eager-to-please Schwechheimer, whom Kobritz thought may have overpromised on what the team could immediately deliver.

Still, it sounds like Kobritz didn’t initially want to sell the team.

“Jordan wasn’t interested in selling at all,” said City Council member Brandon Johnson. “That was never an option.”

He said Diamond was persistent.

“Diamond was reaching out saying, ‘Hey, we want to be in Wichita.’ ”

Johnson thinks part of it is the appeal of Riverfront Stadium and part of it is Diamond saw a commitment from Wichita about making investments in the quality of life here.

“It made Wichita really attractive. . . . It was wanting to be in our city that really kept them coming.”

Diamond was so dogged in returning to Kobritz, Johnson said, “Finally, you just say, ‘Well, what are you talking about?’ ”

Freund said the “spectacular and phenomenal” stadium is part of the attraction as is the team’s status as a Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, which is not expected to change.

He said the lack of other professional sports teams means Wichita is a bit of a captive market, and he likes that it’s a growing one as well.

“We’re very bullish on the prospects.”

Freund, who has owned and operated several Minor League teams and worked for Major League Baseball, knew Schwechheimer and his wife, Jane.

He said he initially reached out to Kobritz after Schwechheimer’s death to offer help.

“This is a bit personal,” Freund said. “When he passed away, it was really emotional for a lot of people in the baseball industry.”

Freund was on the board of the executive committee of the Pacific Coast League when Schwechheimer pitched the idea of moving his Baby Cakes team from New Orleans, and Freund was part of the unanimous vote approving it.

“I’ve been behind the scenes in this for many, many years rooting for this to happen. It was the newest and best project that was going in Minor League Baseball.”

‘We have concerns’

City Council member Jeff Blubaugh said he is cautiously optimistic about what the new owners may be able to accomplish.

“So, I still have concerns about the 200-plus events that we originally sold the public . . . in building the new stadium,” he said. “We’ve been telling them for how many years now?”

Blubaugh said he knows the pandemic and Schwechheimer’s death complicated matters, but he said, “We’re past all that. It’s time to start having concerts, to start having more community events.”

If possible, Blubaugh said he still wants something in writing or to at least have a memorandum of understanding with Diamond for a guarantee that the company will have events.

“I just want it to be known we have concerns.”

Johnson said the contract the city had with the original Wind Surge ownership will be the same for Diamond. He said it’s basically a transfer.

That means there is not a set number of concerts or other events that Diamond will be obligated to host, which was one of the criticisms of the city’s original Wind Surge contract.

“We probably did a poor job on the outset of really defining what that meant,” Johnson said.

He gives Kobritz credit, which not everyone does, for hosting some events outside of Wind Surge games.

“Jordan’s done a wonderful job building some of that foundation,” Johnson said.

That includes high school and college football and baseball games.

City Council member Bryan Frye agreed even though he said those events weren’t “the big, showy entertainment things that was represented early on.”

He said Diamond sees an opportunity for those, “Otherwise, they wouldn’t be making this investment.”

As much as Frye said he appreciates what current Wind Surge ownership has done, he said, “This group represents much deeper resources, connections and opportunities than we’ve ever had.”

Johnson said he believes “it’s going to end up being a good thing for us.”

However, he added, “We need to monitor that and engage with them.”

‘The greatest opportunity’

The 2022 baseball season was a spectacular one for most Minor League teams, with fans returning in droves following initial hesitation over the pandemic. Profits soared in a lot of places. Yet the Wind Surge still struggled to find its footing.

So why will Diamond ownership be any different?

“There’s a lot of economies of scale in owning more than one Minor League Baseball team,” Freund said.

That includes purchasing power, regional and national sponsorships and an ability to attract concerts and other events with the power of offering a couple dozen stadiums in which to perform instead of only one.

“It’s enticing, and it’s exciting.”

In Diamond’s negotiations to buy the Wind Surge, Freund said there was never a time the company discussed becoming a partner in the development around the ballpark.

“We are strictly in the live events and entertainment business,” he said.

“I can tell you we’re highly motivated,” Freund said of events, “. . . and we’re pretty good at it.”

Diamond executive chairman Pat Battle also is chairman of Learfield, another Silver Lake company that is a large collegiate sports marketing firm.

Other entities within Silver Lake have additional baseball teams as well as other sports.

Except for Kobritz, Freund said he expects to keep the rest of the staff and offer them opportunities to grow within Diamond.

The company does not plan to make a lot of changes immediately.

“We’re going to look at everything,” Freund said.

He also said, “Nothing happens overnight.”

Freund said much of what needs to happen is relationship building.

“I can give it all lip service, but over time we’ll prove out Lou’s vision, and the vision for the Wichita Wind Surge can be realized.”

He said the team is a great community asset, calling it “one of the jewels of Wichita,” that’s being underused.

“That is at the heart of why we’re so excited about this opportunity.”

Freund said he knows there will be skepticism around Diamond’s purchase and plans, but added the company has the “greatest opportunity to make things right and do things the right way.”

“I’m really not blowing smoke,” he said.

“We want to welcome everybody back to the ballpark.”

This story was originally published December 5, 2022 at 4:54 PM.