Businessman Solomon, Proposing Minor League Baseball Team in RI, Sells His NH Club

Businessman Solomon, Proposing Minor League Baseball Team in RI, Sells His NH Club

Art Solomon, the Providence-based businessman who has proposed locating an MLB draft league minor league baseball team in Rhode Island, has announced the sale of the minor league team he owns in New Hampshire.

Solomon says he wants to focus his effort on bringing minor league baseball back to Rhode Island.

He is selling the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats — the affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays to Diamond Baseball Holdings — the same sports corporation that is buying the Worcester WooSox. It was also announced that the Louisville Bats of the AAA has also sold to Diamond Baseball. 

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“Although I’ve built two successful baseball franchises out-of-state, once I became aware of the possibility of bringing a major league affiliated team to my home state, and partnering with Rhode Island College, I decided to sell my New Hampshire team so that I could devote my attention to trying to bring professional baseball back to Rhode Island,” said Solomon.

In the summer of 2022, Diamond Baseball owned 10 minor-league teams and now own nearly 30 teams and nearly 25% of all minor-league baseball clubs.

 

Ownership History

In 2004, Solomon’s bid to purchase the PawSox from the late Ben Mondor was rebuffed.

But within a year or so, Solomon had purchased  New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

Solomon had owned the team since.

For five years, Solomon owned another minor league team — a high-A Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays located in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

In December 2013, Solomon sold the team to Manhattan Capital Sports, headed by Stuart Katzoff.

Solomon's children own the Hartford Yard Goats, who play in the Eastern League and are a Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.

Solomon literally wrote the book on minor league sports ownership - he authored "Making It in the Minors: A Team Owner's Lessons in the Business of Baseball."

 

Rhode Island Project

Presently, Rhode Island College’s baseball facility seats between 500 and 700 fans. Solomon says the new stadium would seat 3,500.

Solomon said the cost to build a stadium would be about $18 million.

“I would like them to include this as a part of the higher education bonds — it is a cost of about $18 million and the facility would be owned by the college,” said Solomon.

Solomon said the annual cost each year for the 20 years of the bonds would be about $1.6 million.

“RIC would benefit, as we would rent the dorms and pay for the food services, and the college would generate hundreds of thousands in new revenue annually,” said Solomon.

 

Diamond Baseball Holdings

Diamond Baseball Holdings is backed by the private equity firm Silver Lake, a $100 billion fund.

Other Silver Lake portfolio companies today include Dell Technologies, Good Rx, A Place for Mom, and Waymo (the autonomous driving vehicle company) and the sports holdings are immense including:

Australian Professional Leagues, City Football Group, Fanatics Trading Cards, Madison Square Garden Sports, New Zealand Rugby, and Learfield Sports. 

Since the Silver Lake investment into Diamond Baseball Group, the number of has jumped from ten in August of 2022 according to a Silver Lake announcement, to 26 today, and the WooSox would be number 27.