The Northern League Is Back!

NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- DC Sports & Entertainment, LLC (DCSE) announces today that it has reached an agreement with the Northern League of Professional Baseball Teams to assume and manage the long-term growth strategy of The Northern League, the premier independent minor professional baseball league with a rich history dating back to 1902. The Northern League will now be headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and will commence League play on the diamond in the summer of 2014 under the leadership of DC Sports & Entertainment. League officials and stadium markets throughout North America will be announced in the coming weeks. DC Sports & Entertainment CEO Ed Desrosiers stated, "Our acquisition of the Northern League operations is an exciting one to say the least considering its grand history and prior successes. When presented this opportunity we had little hesitation having dealt with owners in various sports leagues across the nation and with the league staff we will be announcing in the coming weeks, we have little digression moving forward and feel wholeheartedly that we will collectively deliver the Northern League back to its rightful place among the most prominent of professional sports leagues." DCSE is a sports and entertainment management and consulting firm with a strong focus on advisory services.

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NORTHERN LEAGUE MISSION STATEMENT: To provide and promote premier independent minor league professional baseball and family oriented affordable entertainment in North America at the highest level of integrity while operating in a fiscally and socially responsible manner.

NORTHERN LEAGUE HISTORY: The Northern League, founded in 1902, is the nation's oldest independent baseball league. Originally formed as an independent league, the Northern League operated as an affiliated league from 1933-1971 before switching back to the independent format in 1992. Independent baseball teams are unaffiliated with major league clubs and operate as their own entities with the responsibility to procure their own players and fill out their rosters, whereas affiliated clubs operate as farm systems for their major league parents as the players are promoted and demoted between levels. Affiliated minor league teams have levels Single-A through Triple- A, with Triple-A being the level just before the majors. Independent leagues do not have these levels.

The Northern League boasts impressive alumni of players who eventually starred in the majors. Recently, Brad Zeigler, Northern League alumni, set the Major League record for scoreless innings to start a career at 39 1/3 for the Oakland Athletics. Historically, the roster of alumni includes such all-time greats as Hank Aaron, Roger Maris, Lou Brock, Joe Torre, Jim Palmer, Willie Stargell, Steve Carlton, and Orlando Cepeda.

Former Team owners in the Northern League over the past 20 years included actors Bill Murray and Kevin Costner, NY Yankees minority partner Marv Goldklang, minor league impresario Mike Veeck, minor league pioneer Miles Wolff, and Winnipeg Manitoba Mayor Sam Katz.

Over the past fifteen years, over 600 Northern League players have been sold to Major League Baseball organizations, with thirty-two of those players advancing all the way to the Major League.

SOURCE DC Sports & Entertainment, LLC