Frontier League commissioner talks expansion, name change
Editor’s note: The Wild Things’ home game Friday night against New Jersey did not end in time to be included in this edition.
With its 18 teams spread over two countries, the Frontier League is the largest of the four major independent baseball leagues.
Frontier League commissioner Steve Tahsler believes there is room for more teams.
Tahsler, while at EQT Park during a previous Wild Things homestand, said expansion remains on the table for the league.
“Nothing is definite until they play the first game, but it’s definitely on the table. We’re having many conversations,” Tahsler said. “Some (potential cities) have come out publically and some will be coming out in the next six months.
“Right now, we have a tremendous level of interest and markets wanting to come to the Frontier League. For the most part, it’s new-build. I would say that the ones that are ready now will need some upgrades, but overwhelmingly they are new construction.”
It has been well-known that the Frontier League covets the Montreal market because of the success the league has experienced in Canada with Quebec, which has won the last four league championships, and Ottawa, which set the league’s single-game attendance record during its home opener last month.
Officials in Owensboro, Ky., and Belton, Mo., also have reached out to the Frontier League about expansion possibilities.
“Montreal is definitely in play,” Tahsler confirmed. “Quebec is one of our flagship operations. Ottawa, from where they were five years ago – coming off a previous tenant that had been evicted, for lack of a better word – the way they re-established the baseball brand in the community, the support they have gotten, attendance has gone up and the way the entire community bought into the ‘Hey, let’s sell out opening day and set a new record.’ That was a huge story all winter long in Canada.
“They got as many people in as they were legally allowed to have in the ballpark, 10,278. That made national news in Canada. National media was there the day before the game and covering the game.”
With its 18 teams, the Frontier League is split into two conferences with nine teams in each. Having an odd number of teams in each conference is a scheduling nightmare as there must be at least one interconference series each night of the season, often creating long road trips.
Having 20 teams, with 10 in each conference – five clubs in each of the four divisions – would make scheduling much easier.
“Right now, things are moving really well,” Tahsler said. “We’re in a great place. We’re coming off a fourth consecutive year of record attendance and what’s most positive is the teams that are driving the record attendance are Quebec, Schaumburg, Florence and Windy City – places that have been around for 25 years. When we go to investment groups, this gives them proof that this is a sustainable model, a stable edition.”
Name game
The Frontier League announced in April that it will be getting a new name – the National Association of Professional Baseball – in 2027. The name change has drawn mixed reactions throughout the league.
Tahsler said the push for the change came from the league’s Board of Directors.
“It was an 18-month process,” Tahsler said. “Stage 1 started in October of 2024. At that point, we had just added Down East and Mississippi, and with the progress we were making in Canada, not to mention the way those clubs were received and the eastern expansion overall, the Board of Directors thought it was time to not only assess where we were and how do we continue the positive momentum. What’s the future? What’s our 10-year plan? That led us to hiring an outside group that met with a subgroup of our owners who did a deep dive into where we were, how we were viewed in the industry and what we thought our next steps were. And one of the pieces that came out of that was that we had outgrown the name Frontier League. Frontier was very accurate when we were the Ohio Valley, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. When you think Frontier, you don’t think Mississippi, North Carolina, Quebec, New York City and Massachusetts. It had gotten us beyond that name.
“The next step was if Frontier League no longer represents where we’re at, what does? It came back that National Association was a historic baseball name, it sounded well, it played well in test cases we did and that led to the decision to go that route.”
Those who don’t like the upcoming change have mentioned the league losing its name recognition with casual fans, college players and coaches. Some have even asked, what will happen with the Frontier League Hall of Fame? Does it disappear along with the name?
“The concern was more on the local level, the fans who are familiar with the Frontier League,” Tahsler said. “The people who were in the league the longest did their internal quiet canvassing and they didn’t think it would have that much of an impact. The team brand is stronger than the league brand.”
Tahsler added that he isn’t concerned that the National Association sounds too much like the American Association, which also is one of the four major independent leagues.
“We thought being an American and National league made more baseball sense,” he said.
102 games
The Frontier League expanded its schedule this year from 96 games to 102. It’s only a slight change but it helps balance the schedule for all teams.
“It was a combination of wanting to give each team nine home weekends,” Tahsler explained. “Before, some teams had eight home weekends and others had nine.”