More on the Swing Sale

From the QC Times:

Swing of the Quad Cities sale moves into final inning

A biting wind blowing across home plate at Davenport’s John O’Donnell Stadium wasn’t enough to wipe the smile off the face of Dave Heller Wednesday afternoon.

The nearly 11-month wait of Heller and his business partner, Bob Herrfeldt, to purchase the Swing of the Quad-Cities reached a major milestone with Major League Baseball’s approval of the transaction.

“It’s taken us a little longer than we anticipated to reach this point, but we’re excited to make this announcement, and we’re ready to move forward,’’ Heller said following an afternoon news conference on the baseball diamond where the Quad-Cities’ Midwest League franchise has played for the past 47 years.

Do you want an answer to why the process took eleven months? Here it is:

It took nearly 11 months for the sale of the Quad-Cities’ Midwest League franchise to go from an agreement between owner Kevin Krause and its prospective owners, Dave Heller and Bob Herrfeldt, to final the approval that closed the deal.

Buying a baseball team is a little more complicated than purchasing a house or buying another existing business.

Midwest League President George Spelius said one of the reasons the 62-year-old league has been so stable over time is the multi-tiered and thorough process baseball requires prospective owners to go through before a sale is final.

“The process is detail-filled and requires a great deal of legwork both on the part of the parties interested in purchasing a franchise and on the part of league and baseball officials who review it,’’ Spelius said.

“The idea is to create franchises which have stable ownership and have a chance to succeed in their marketplace. It takes time, but it has worked well.’’

Here is a brief history of the ownership of the Quad Cities Baseball franchise:

1960-86

The club was operated by the Quad-City Baseball Fans Association, a nonprofit organization of local individuals that operated a community-owned club. Debt incurred from a Mississippi River flood forced the local group to sell, although invested proceeds continue to benefit youth baseball programs in the area.

1986-87

Chicago businessman Harry Semrow, an industrialist and political operative in Chicago who was appointed postmaster of Chicago by President John F. Kennedy, purchased the team.

1987-98

Poor health forced Semrow to sell the club to another Chicago businessman, Richard Holtzman. He owned as many as five minor-league clubs during the years he owned the team.

1998-2007

Kevin Krause, a Mason City, Iowa, businessman, purchased the franchise from Holtzman, who cited ongoing difficulties with city leaders and an inability to secure renovations at John O’Donnell Stadium as his reason for selling. Krause and the organization he led, Seventh Inning Stretch, oversaw a $13.5 million renovation of John O’Donnell Stadium.

2007

After agreeing to terms with Krause in December 2006, approval of the purchase of the franchise by Main Street Iowa, the group headed by Heller and Herrfeldt, came on Nov. 14.