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The Reds have extended their player development contract with Triple-A Louisville through the 2012 season. The announcement was made as the club made a Winter Caravan stop in Louisville on Thursday night. The previous agreement was set to expire after the 2010 season.
The Reds, who have long included Kentucky as part of their regional market, have been affiliated with Louisville since 2000 — the first year play began at Louisville Slugger Field.
This is good for us regional Reds fans; a quick trip to Louisville for a game is always fun.
I am happy about that…it is a great place to watch a game. I am only a hour from L’Ville, so it is cool getting to go there from time to time.
It isn’t that I mind Louisville, but I always wanted to see the Reds move back to Indianapolis. It is too bad Indiapolis re-upped with the Pirates earlier this year.
For the Reds, I’d think it’s “6 of one, half a dozen of the other”, same distance from Cincy; both have newer ballparks, both draw well.
From the Reds perspective, I agree with Bill. It’s probably the same to the club in terms of distance, ballpark, revenue, etc. I think there’s more of a Cub fan mix in Indy than Louisville, but they always drew well here. There was some disagreement between the Indianapolis owner and the Reds franchise, and I don’t see the Reds ever coming back here unless it is under different Indians ownership.
From an Indianapolis area Reds fan perspective, it sucks that they are in Louisville. I went to a lot of Indians games when they were the Reds AAA team. I now get there about once a year, and I typically try to schedule the trip when Louisville is in town.
From the Indians perspective, they’ve drawn well, regardless of the MLB affiliate.
I think in Louisville you’re fighting the “Cardinal fan” influence also.
Honestly I don’t hear anything about the Cardinals in Louisville. There are some fans, but no more than Cubs fans…I hear more Braves fans than either Cardinals or Cubs.
Reds fans would dominate.
Now, if you go to western Kentucky, starting about 1 – 1 1/2 hours west of Louisville, you’ll hear a lot more about the Cardinals.
The Reds marketed Louisville as “Reds country) when I was a boy 40 years ago.
Lousville and most of northern, central, and eastern Kentucky are still Reds strongholds. Western KY definitely has more of a Cardinals following, though. I think the Paducah newspaper carries as much about the Cards and the Cubs as they do the Reds.
The presence of WGN and TBS has made some Cubs and Braves fans throughout the Commonwealth over the past 20 years. Yet most of them are now being replaced by the “Boston Bandwagon” fans that suddenly started caring about the Sox after 2004. I know, I know… it’s sad.