Red Wings will operate Batavia Muckdogs in 2015

Rochester Community Baseball, Inc. will operate the Single-A Batavia Muckdogs baseball team for an eighth consecutive year in 2015, top executive Naomi Silver said Tuesday.

The Muckdogs remain for sale, and while Silver says "there is always interest in the franchise," there are no takers.

"I get at least a few calls each month and have extended conversations with many of them," said Silver, the CEO/COO and president of RCB. "It will take a situation to arise in which there is a city, and a stadium, that is suitable for a pro baseball team."

RCB, which owns the Triple-A Red Wings, took over operational control of the Muckdogs in 2008. The Muckdogs, which are owned by the not-for-profit Genesee County Baseball Club, were $150,000 in the red at the time.

The Wings' 2014 financial report won't be released until December, but they had lost close to $900,000 in Batavia through last season – including a $173,000 pre-tax loss in 2013.

That overall figure likely will surpass $1 million once the latest financial statement is released.

However, RCB will receive 5 percent of the eventual sale price for every year it operates the Muckdogs, with a cap of 50 percent (per the current agreement). After the 2015 season, the Wings will be at 40 percent.

New York-Penn League rules mandate that no team be sold for less than $5 million, and the asking price for the Muckdogs is $6 million.

"That's been about the average going rate in sales that have taken place in the league," Silver said. "No team has sold for the minimum in quite a number of years."

If the Muckdogs sell for $6 million, the Wings' 40 percent stake through 2015 would net them $2.4 million. That would double their deficit.

"We lose money every year," Silver says, "but it will be more than covered in a sale."

The most likely exit for the Muckdogs will be a franchise shift. In August, league officials announced that the Jamestown Jammers' franchise would be shifted to Morgantown, West Va., in 2015. The Jammes are owned by Rich Baseball, which also owns the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.

Plans for that franchise shift have been underway for four years.