WVU Gets Pirates Minor League Team

A press conference today will announce that WVU will land the Pittsburgh Pirates short season team in the New York Penn League.  The club will play in Morgantown, West Virginia next year.  The report in Pittsburgh Business Times has some of the details.

"The move will not conflict with WVU’s baseball season. A recent economic analysis showed the baseball team generated $3.5 million a year for the economy in Jamestown, N.Y., where it has been located for the past 20 years, and it is expected to do the same or better in Morgantown, according to the Times West Virginian."

It’s a move that has been rumored for some time.  The Bucs had the team in State College, but recently they moved to Jamestown.  According to the ownership of the State College club it became apparent the Pirates weren’t serious about creating a long term partnership with the short season team.

If you ever get to the Morgantown area, it’s easy to see how the town has grown over the years.  The construction on the $22 million stadium is ongoing and has a completion date of next spring.  By the looks of it, the stadium will be the real deal and looks impressive from our drive by recently.  Of course, the big part of this construction is so that WVU has a comparable stadium to its intercollegiate teams.

The team is in the New York-Penn League which as you know, is a short-season minor league.  The games typically run from the middle of June until the final week of August.   The move will not conflict with WVU’s baseball season. A recent economic analysis showed the baseball team generated $3.5 million a year for the economy in Jamestown, N.Y., where it has been located for the past 20 years, and it is expected to do the same or better in Morgantown, according to the Times West Virginian.