Memphis Redbirds
The Memphis Redbirds are a baseball team in the Pacific Coast League , an AAA minor league . The Redbirds are the only high-class sports team in the United States that is set up as a non-profit organization. The Redbirds have some of the highest attendance in the United States in minor league baseball.
The team, founded in 1998, unlike almost all other professional teams in the USA, does not belong to a single owner, but rather like the Green Bay Packers to a foundation whose shares are widely spread over the population of Memphis, Tennessee . The foundation has two youth programs that try to encourage young people from problematic neighborhoods to do sports. The city has the certainty that the team will stay in Memphis and was able to build AutoZone Park, the most expensive minor league stadium in US sports history. The stadium is located right in the city center, near the landmark of the Peabody Hotel and is built in brick to match the style of the rest of the area. They currently play on the St. Louis Cardinals farm team .
It was founded by Dean Jernigan , the founder of Storage USA , the second largest self-storage provider in the USA. Memphis born Jenigan wanted to start something that went beyond mere business. He knew of the numerous failed attempts to bring a professional team to Memphis, which either failed in the attempt, or in which the teams changed cities after a few years, and wanted to create something that would keep the city intact.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c John Foley, Julie Kendrick: Balanced brand: how to balance the stakeholder forces that can make or break your business John Wiley and Sons, 2006 ISBN 0787983098 pp. 82-85
- ^ A b Ann Breen, Dick Rigby: Intown living: a different American dream Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004 ISBN 0275975916 p. 117