{"id":9394,"date":"2022-03-25T12:55:46","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T17:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/kenosha-kingfish\/?p=9394"},"modified":"2022-03-25T12:56:47","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T17:56:47","slug":"kenosha-kingfish-agree-in-principle-to-ownership-transfer-of-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/kenosha-kingfish\/2022\/03\/25\/kenosha-kingfish-agree-in-principle-to-ownership-transfer-of-franchise\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenosha Kingfish Agree in Principle to Ownership Transfer of Franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kenosha, Wis. \u2013 The Kenosha Kingfish ownership group consisting of Steve Schmitt, Vern Stenman and Conor Caloia have agreed in principle to transfer ownership of the Kenosha Kingfish, a member of the Northwoods League, to Let\u2019s Play Two LLC, owned by Bill Fanning and Mike Zoellner. The sale is pending the transfer of the Simmons Field lease and the accompanying liquor license. This transfer will be reviewed by the City of Kenosha Board of Parks Commission on Monday, March 28<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. If approved by this commission, it will be reviewed by the City of Kenosha Common Council on Monday, April 4<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0 If approved by the Common Council and with the approval of a pending liquor license application, the sale is expected to be completed in late April.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">All current team personnel will stay on under the new ownership and day-to-day operations will continue to be run by team President, Steve Malliet, and General Manager, Ryne Goralski.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fanning and Zoellner have been close friends since meeting in the first grade and played college baseball together. Fanning went onto a storied management career in minor league baseball with stops in Denver, Spokane, Wichita and the successful launch of the St. Paul Saints. Fanning served as the General Manager for 12 seasons until he stepped away to focus on his growing family. Zoellner has had a successful real estate development and investment career. The acquisition of the Kingfish provides the two lifelong friends an exciting opportunity to share their passion for baseball and take the Kingfish organization to the next level as a community asset.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We are extremely excited to be joining the Kenosha community with our purchase of the Kenosha Kingfish.\u00a0Mike and I have been looking for the right situation to get back into baseball and looked at several teams over the past few years,\u201d Fanning said. \u201cOnce we dug deeper into Kenosha\u2019s baseball history and the Kingfish culture, we knew this was the right City and right team for us.\u00a0 We want to thank Big Top Baseball, Steve Schmitt, Vern Stenman, and Conor Caloia for their work in laying the foundation for success and setting a high bar for providing a fun, customer first, family atmosphere at Simmons Field.\u00a0 The current staff does a great job and we\u2019re looking forward to working with them to continue the tradition of excellence that Kenosha has come to expect with the Kingfish.\u00a0 Opening Day can\u2019t come soon enough.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The current ownership of the Kingfish launched the franchise at a newly renovated Simmons Field in 2014 and have enjoyed amazing community support since the start. The Kingfish have regularly ranked in the top 10 in the nation in summer collegiate baseball attendance and have become a staple of the summers in Kenosha. The organization won the Northwoods League Summer Collegiate World Series in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe would like to thank the greater Kenosha community for embracing the Kingfish and making us feel welcome since we first discussed the idea of bringing spectator baseball back to Simmons Field in 2012,\u201d Schmitt, Stenman and Caloia said in a joint statement. \u201cWe appreciate the support of former Mayor Keith Bosman, current Mayor John Antaramian, the Common Council, the Kenosha Simmons Baseball Organization Board and all of the dedicated host families, corporate partners and season ticket holders. Without them, the Kingfish would not have been possible. We think Bill and Mike will be great caretakers of the Kingfish brand and we are excited to watch them lead the next chapter of baseball in Kenosha.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Kingfish Home Opener is slated for 4:05 pm on Monday, May 30th against the Kalamazoo Growlers. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For more information on the different ticket packages visit kingfishbaseball.com or call the Simmons Field Ticket Office at <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">262-653-0900<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">###<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its\u2019 27<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 245 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB All-Star Jordan Zimmermann (DET). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit\u00a0<\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.northwoodsleague.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">www.northwoodsleague.com<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kenosha, Wis. \u2013 The Kenosha Kingfish ownership group consisting of Steve Schmitt, Vern Stenman and Conor Caloia have agreed in  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":9395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,27,15,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-permanentslider","category-promotions","category-team-news","category-update-ticker"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - 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