By J.J. Cooper
October 1, 2005

Back in 1993, Marv Goldklang and his partners were venturing into uncharted territory. As the owners of the St. Paul Saints, they were one of six owners in the new independent Northern League, trying to prove a minor league didn't need ties to Major League Baseball to survive and thrive financially.

Now the Saints are setting off into uncharted waters again.

Thanks to strong management and a heavy dose of wild promotions, the Northern League was a success, helping pave the way for a slew of independent leagues over the next decade. Many independent league have come and gone, but overall indy ball has become a proven part of the minor league landscape.

Now the owners of the Saints, along with the Northern League's Lincoln Saltdogs and Sioux Falls Canaries, will again push the independent league envelope.

"I think this may be the most exciting year since 1993," Goldklang said.

"We have the challenge of creating something new. It's unique and different," Lincoln president Charlie Meyer said.

The Saints, Saltdogs and Canaries announced Thursday that they'll withdraw from the Northern League to form a new, unnamed league. The move leaves the Northern League with nine teams, but lacking its flagship franchise and indy ball's best-known team--St. Paul--that has been subject of books and a television series.

According to Goldklang, the decision to leave came because of the clubs' desire to head in a different direction than the Northern League planned.

"We're not leaving because of them, but because of us. We want to do something a little different with a broader focus," Goldklang said.

Both sides term the separation as amicable, but the differences seem to center around how much the Northern League would interact and cooperate with other independent leagues. When the four other most established leagues began pushing for tighter cooperation two years ago, the Northern League adopted a more arms-length stance.

St. Paul, Lincoln and Sioux Falls were more interested in a cooperative approach. Their new league will be open to the idea of interleague play, cooperating in marketing and sales, and potentially having playoffs between leagues to determine an overall champion. That's a tall order in the independent leagues, which have become more fractured in the past year, but Goldklang said he thinks it can happen.

"If you're waiting for the perfect time, that time will never come," he said. "We decided that this is the time. We're prepared and comfortable to move in that direction. We won't say there won't be obstacles in the road and there won't be people who don't share in that philosophy. But if we prove this works and can be better for everyone, I think you'll find the fractiousness will diminish over time."

The decision to depart came as a surprise to Northern League commissioner Mike Stone. He declined to address the teams' reasons for leaving, saying it was best addressed by them, but said the league will go forward with plans to expand to 16 teams in the next few years. Northern League bylaws allow teams to withdraw with no penalty, simply by informing the league of their intent.

"I don't know if I'd call it shocking," Stone said. "I won't say I'm saddened, but I would say I'm disappointed they don't want to share our vision."

Stone said in a conference call after the announcement that the remaining nine teams have assured him they were remaining in the league.

"I won't debate the fact that those three teams are important to the league," Stone said, before adding: "This league has several candidates for expansion. I have no concerns about the league's health or future."

St. Paul was second in the Northern League attendance last season with an average of 6,171 fans a game. Lincoln was fourth, with 4,328 fans a game, while Sioux Falls was eighth with an average attendance of 2,471. Winnipeg led the league with a 6,867 average.

Where the two leagues go from here is a matter for rampant speculation, partly because the three teams announced they were leaving without concrete plans for a new league.

Stone said the Northern League will prepare three different 2006 schedules: an eight-team schedule, with one current team going dark for a year while awaiting further expansion to ease travel concerns; a schedule for the remaining nine teams; and a 10-team schedule with one expansion club.

Stone later said he thinks it's unlikely any of the potential expansion candidates would be ready for the 2006 season, however. He would not specify which team would consider shutting down for a season.

As for the trio of departed teams, Goldklang said they offered to play the Northern League clubs in interleague play in 2006.

"We have offered to the Northern league that if they would like to have some limited interleague play to alleviate scheduling or travel considerations, we'd be open to that," he said. "If the Northern League doesn't want interleague play, we're perfectly capable of developing a 96-game schedule entirely on our own."

Goldklang said the new league could have eight or more teams ready for 2006, considering markets that have existing facilities, strong ownership groups and the possibility of new stadium projects. The Northern League used more air travel last year with the addition of Edmonton and Calgary, and Goldklang said the new league would also be open to that idea if it allows the league to get into better markets.

Where those markets will come from is not clear. It's already a busy offseason for indy ball, with the Northern League news coming a week after the fledgling United League making several significant announcements regarding teams in Texas.

First, the United League announced it has a lease in Edinburg, which hosted the Central League's Edinburg Roadrunners until the city council canceled the team's lease this month over a late payment. A couple of days later, another Central League club, the San Angelo Colts, announced its defection to the United League, after the new league paid to help the club retire the debt on five-year-old Colts Stadium.

With those two losses, the Central League is left with six franchises, one of which--Jackson, Miss.--has not decided whether it will field a team in 2006. Another team, Coastal Bend, shares its market with a Double-A Texas League team, Corpus Christi.

Central League commissioner Miles Wolff said his league has not had any discussions with the trio of breakaway Northern League teams.

"No specific things have started on the Central League end, but we know they are out there and we are pretty sure over the next week or two there will be discussions," Wolff said. "I think potentially it could affect us in the Central League. We're sort of waiting to see how it shakes out."

A pairing of the Central League with the free-agent trio of teams would make sense in some ways. But there would also be many hurdles to a straight merger--most notably geography and travel--and some Central League markets are smaller than the profile the new league appears to be aiming for. For his part, Goldklang said the teams' plans do not involve a switch to another league.

"We will be neither joining nor merging with any league, but we'll be a league of our own," he said.

The landscape for new leagues seems to be wide open now, and with all the movement going on there's no telling what indy ball will look like next spring.

"It's sort of Wild West out there right now," Wolff said.