The sale, formally approved by AFBL commissioner Matthew Streeter, has put the biggest media market team in the hands of new ownership. The ownership group headed by Matthew Katz was nothing but thrilled to be taking over the franchise. Acknowledging the struggles but praising the previous ownerships relentless efforts to provide New Yorkers a competitive ball club. Matthew Katz, in his press conference cautioned patience in the rebuilding efforts in a state where patience is rare and expectations are always enormous.
"The understanding is there that New Yorkers want a winner and expect a winner and certainly deserve a winner. It has, I am sure, only been that much more difficult given the vast success of our neighbors in New Jersey, a perennial title contender. However, where we are at, we?re not there right now. We have some work to do. We know the effort was there, there was hard work and sometimes results just don?t match the effort and passion we know was here before. We have only the utmost respect for our predecessor. With that said, we must now look forward. Our goal will of course be to build this situation into a winner that can contend regularly for the AFBL title.?
With that eye to the future, promise of a new brand for New York baseball coming this winter was hinted at, though nothing was stated outright as to what that new brand would entail. ?There will be a time and place for that news, right now we?re in middle of the season and want to hit the ground running building for the future of Big Apple baseball. We do, however, think New York fans will embrace the changes ahead and will be excited for the new look and brand we?ll be stamping on the franchise this off season.? Katz added.
For the new owners, taking over midseason, they face an unusual challenge of dealing in the season with a mixture of being in the moment this season and looking ahead to the plans for the future. New York fans are re-energized and are excited about the possibilities and the new direction the organization will hopefully be heading.
