Dakota Baseball buys Lancaster Barnstormers

A news release does not disclose the purchase price but says the transaction is effective immediately and “creates local ownership and operation of the Lancaster Barnstormers as part of a transition plan conceived by Dakota Baseball and ODP.”

Dakota Baseball LLC is made up of Lancaster residents Ian Ruzow, Rob Liss, Steve Zuckerman and Bob Zuckerman, all founders and executives of Clipper Magazine, the release says. They have been minority owners of the Barnstormers since the team’s inception in 2005.

Rob Liss, who has been at the helm throughout the 2014 Championship season, will continue in the management of the club, along with his three partners.

“We feel a special bond to the community and look forward to providing the joy of affordable baseball and family entertainment to our friends and neighbors for years to come,” Ruzow said in the release.

The new owners have been working behind the scenes “to make sure that the baseball experience in Lancaster not only continues, but is greatly enhanced by improved marketing of non-game day activities, new experiences at the ballpark and some soon to be announced exciting changes for 2015,” the release says. It notes that they will also embark on the renovation of the skybox suites in 2015.

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball President Rick White said ODP has been the most prolific organization of its kind in minor league baseball for the past quarter century, designing, constructing and operating more minor league ballparks than any other organization in professional baseball and opening four of the eight markets currently playing in the Atlantic League.

“This is a step in their company maturation that has been on the horizon for some time,” White said. “This transition will make the Atlantic League even stronger in each community we serve.”

“We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished in Lancaster County and each of the Atlantic League communities we have served,” ODP Chairman Peter Kirk said. “With the change to local ownership nearing or at completion in several markets where we have founded clubs, we feel the time is right for us to focus on our home market of Southern Maryland.”

Liss told the Business Journal that Dakota Baseball LLC also used to be a part owner in several other teams that ODP opened, but that through discussions in the past couple of years concluded that what’s best for the league, as well as the teams and their communities, would be to have one owner per stadium. He’s confident Lancaster will prove the truth of that belief.

“Skybox renewals are underway and already the majority of the skyboxes have been leased,” said Liss. “Visitors to the ballpark in 2014 already saw positive changes at the stadium, and the leasing of the skyboxes should be complete soon.”

The Lancaster Barnstormers are entering their eleventh season in the ALPB, which plans to expand to 12 teams over the next few years by adding teams.