Is there a baseball team out there for Wichita?

Wichita mayor Jeff Longwell said in August he felt confident he could announce a Major League Baseball affiliate for the city by the end of the year.

So Tuesday’s approval of a $50,000 contract for a consultant to, among other things, seek a franchise and negotiate with its owner was cause for pause.

Longwell’s pledge doesn’t seem cemented. It may be, but doesn’t seem so.

Which leaves us searching, just like Beacon Sports, the consultant.

Eric Edelstein has been watching this from afar. He’s the president of the Reno Aces, a Triple-A club in the Pacific Coast League. He’s also a former general manager of the Wranglers, Wichita’s Double-A team from 1989 to 2007.

He knows about Wichita baseball. The highs, the lows, the process by which a franchise leaves one city for another.

“I’m comfortable saying right now there’s not an automatic team ready to move,” Edelstein said. “There isn’t anybody at this point that sticks out as, ‘Oh yeah, they’ve made rumblings about moving.’”

The city’s desire for affiliated baseball has many parallels to 10 years ago, when its Wranglers were grabbed by Springdale, Ark.

Back then, Springdale’s Chamber of Commerce led a charge to build a new ballpark and to put a team in it. Springdale contacted the Texas League, which recognized Wichita was its most vulnerable franchise – aged ballpark, lagging attendance and a lack of commitment to make major renovations to Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

By the time Wichita was ready to put big money into stadium work in 2006, Springdale had already scheduled a sales-tax referendum, which passed.

Wranglers owners Bob and Mindy Rich moved the professional team but sold the National Baseball Congress World Series back to the city. The Riches still own the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

Now, many similarities exist. Wichita wants to build a new ballpark as part of larger improvements to the Delano district. Through its consultant, it’s contacting leagues and owners.

But will there be a taker?

Geography limits Wichita to two leagues, the Double-A Texas League and the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.

Wichita had once hoped to be part of a grand move involving three franchises owned by the same group. But once San Antonio announced a move from Double-A to Triple-A, the owner moved his Double-A franchise to Amarillo, Texas.

Since then, leads on stealing other Texas League or PCL franchises appear thin. Midland has the Texas League’s worst attendance, but its 4,211-fan average in 2017 dwarfs Wichita’s best years with the Wranglers. All Texas League parks are no more than 12 years old, too, making it hard to find a team with stadium concerns.

Outside the box, Wichita could try to lure a franchise from the Southern League (with western-most clubs in Pearl, Miss., and Jackson, Tenn.). Jackson and Mobile, Ala., each averaged fewer than 1,800 fans this season.

But to do that, Wichita would likely join the Texas League again and the Texas League would ask one of its eastern-most franchises – Springfield, Mo.; Little Rock, Ark.; or Northwest Arkansas – to move to the Southern League.

That seems unlikely, given those clubs are located near each other and have no real reason to make a league switch.

Hiring a consultant is far from creating a panic for minor-league baseball fans. Beacon Sports is also studying stadium costs and market comparisons.

The consultant should earn far more than its $50,000 fee if it can lure a franchise to Wichita. This isn’t an easy find.

This story was originally published October 27, 2017 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Is there a baseball team out there for Wichita?."