Fresno County Supervisor Sal Quintero welcomes new Grizzlies owner Mike Baker at a 2018 press conference. Photo by Edward Smith

Fresno Sports and Events, made up of father-and-son team Ray and Mike Baker and partner Jim Coufos, made their Chukchansi Park debut Tuesday afternoon as the new owners of the Fresno Grizzlies Triple-A baseball team.

Today’s press conference caps several years of the team up for sale. It was last summer when the City of Fresno agreed to a lease for the new owners for Chukchansi Park that lasts through 2036.

“We started lease negotiations with the city telling the mayor that we’re not leaving, we want to buy this team and we want to keep it in Fresno for the long term,” Mike Baker said. “Once we said that, that began a really good, open dialogue between us and the city.”

Out of that dialogue came a $5 million deal for a capital reserve fund to address improvement needs for the stadium.

 

Of that $5 million, $3 million is available for non-structural improvements, according to Baker. About $1.25 million comes from the selling team, Fresno Baseball Club, LLC, $1 million comes from Fresno Sports and Events and $1 million comes from the city for aesthetic changes, like the first one the group announced—the transformation of 1,000 seats in left field in to a covered patio “social” area in the “immediate” future, according to a press release.

The remaining $2 million will be held by the city for structural needs that may arise in the future, according to Baker.

Managing partner Ray Baker describes the direction the group will be taking with the public as an “affordable” one that will be more family-oriented.

“Michael is about affordability, and obviously affordability creates volume,” Ray Baker said.

Ticket prices will be lowered to allow families to come multiple times per season, said team spokesperson Paul Braverman.

Additionally, the Grizzlies are announcing what they claim to be the “cheapest beers in Triple-A baseball,” selling certain 20-ounce draft beers for $5.

The lease deal also includes access to the park for nonprofit organizations on non-game days, according to Fresno Mayor Lee Brand.

Organizations will be able to reach out to the Grizzlies and utilize offices from its meeting areas in the stadium, as well as allowing access to the yard itself for high school games.

“If our biggest complaint is our field gets beat up a little bit, that’s a good problem,” said Ray Baker. “That’s why we’re opening it up to the high school teams.”

General Manager Derek Franks, who started with the team as an intern 13 years ago, will be promoted to president under the new ownership.

Now that the team has found ownership, it will enter into the terms outlined in a measure passed unanimously by the Fresno City Council last year that lowered the cost of rent to $500,000 from $750,000. Fresno Baseball Club, LLC, the team’s previous owners, would still be liable for the back rent, totaling about $2 million.

The measure also outlined how the deferred maintenance costs for the now 16-year-old stadium would be handled.

The city council passed the measure in hopes of keeping a team in Fresno, which many have seen as an integral part of downtown revitalization. The city also directly profits from Grizzlies’ revenue, taking 20 percent after $500,000 in a year, but not to exceed $300,000.

Ray Baker, who at one time sat on the stadium board with Coors Field, the home field of the Colorado Rockies, now sees the growth happening there as similar to what he feels in Fresno.

“We saw a lot of explosive growth in Denver, which we get that sense that there’s opportunities here,” Ray Baker said.

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New owner bios provided by the Fresno Grizzlies:

Ray Baker- Owner, Fresno Grizzlies
Ray has been involved in the banking and real estate industry for the past 35 years.  A Pueblo, Colorado native, he has played an active role in the non-profit industry, as well as community banking and real estate transactions throughout the metropolitan Denver region and the Western Slope of Colorado.  In 1986, he co-founded the Gold Crown Foundation, a non-profit based in Colorado dedicated to improving the lives of Colorado youth through sports and enrichment opportunities.  Mr. Baker has served as the Chairman of the Metropolitan Stadium District (Coors Field) since 1989 and has served in that capacity under five different governors from both political parties.  Ray is a current board member of Alpine Banks of Colorado, Gold Crown Foundation, Land Title Guarantee Company, and MDC Holdings.
 
Jim Coufos- Owner, Fresno Grizzlies
Jim retired as a managing director of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) as well as a managing director of its Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, LLC subsidiary (SLK) in April, 2005.  Jim joined SLK as vice president in August 1986, to establish a corporate services and new business department. He became a managing director of SLK in 1991, overseeing corporate services and new business for the firm’s New York Stock Exchange specialist business.  GS acquired SLK in September 2000 and Jim remained as a managing director of GS.  Prior to joining SLK, he spent eighteen years on the staff of the NYSE, where he served most recently as a managing director of corporate services and new business.  Jim is an active member of several charities, and currently sits on the investment and audit committees for Hoag Hospital.  He served Hoag for nine years until recently terming out from the foundation board, for which he previously served as chairman.  He also served on the Hoag Hospital board.  Previously, Jim sat on the Boards of The Gladney Fund, Southwestern Law School, PBS SOCAL and The Alliance for Children’s Rights.

Mike Baker- Owner, Fresno Grizzlies
Mike is President of Gold Crown Management, a commercial real estate firm based in Denver, Colorado since 1972.  Gold Crown Management owns and manages a portfolio of commercial real estate properties including apartments, industrial buildings, parking lots and other assets.  Mike is responsible for all asset sales, purchases, and leasing activities within the firm’s portfolio.  Mike is a graduate of the University of Kansas with a degree in business, and is a current board member for SafeHouse Denver and the Denver Preschool Program.  Previously, Mike served on the Reisher College Scholarship Committee for six years.