“It is no secret that the city wishes to cede responsibility for maintaining Blair Field to its most important tenant, the Long Beach State ‘Dirtbags,’ a national powerhouse baseball program,” the claim says. “It is also no secret that Long Beach State does not wish to have the Armada share the facilities or control the concessions during its games. Our sources advise us that the negotiations between the city and Long Beach State are much more advanced than we have been told and that in fact a prerequisite of any deal between the city and Long Beach State was that the Armada’s permit be terminated.”The story in the Long Beach Gazettes also suggests that the Armada had been falling behind in payments to the city in the last year.
This means that there are now only eight firm GBL teams for 2010: Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Chico, Maui, Orange County, Tucson and Yuma. Other teams that could still join the league in 2010 (in estimated order of likelihood) are Ottawa, Tijuana, Palm Springs, Scottsdale and St. George. As of today, there is still no word on which ownership group will be granted a lease on Ottawa's 10,000 seat baseball stadium. The Nation's Capital could end up with a team in either the Can-Am League or the Golden League.
On the positive side, the name of the Maui team was revealed in late December. The newest GBL expansion team will be known as the Na Ikaika Koa Maui, which is Hawaiian for the Strong Warriors of Maui. The team will be managed by ex-major leaguer Cory Snyder. Snyder steered the St. George Roadrunners to the South Division Championship in 2009.
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