Unsustainable Spirit

LYNN - The North Shore Spirit seemed to have a better chance to last at Fraser Field than any professional baseball team that played before them.

Nick Lopardo, the team's owner, was a star money manager at State Street Global Advisors. He spent at least $10 million on team operations and to spruce up Fraser Field, an old, concrete ballpark where the Spirit started in 2003.

But the Spirit found no joy in Lynn. Unable to attract a big fan base, or solve parking problems, the team ended its five-season run last week, after losing the Can-Am League championship series to the Nashua Pride.

Nashua swept the Spirit in the best-of-five series, clinching the title with a 6-4 win Friday night at Fraser Field. As the champs celebrated with champagne, a video of vintage ballparks played on the scoreboard accompanied by Frank Sinatra crooning, "There used to be a ballpark right here."

Lopardo, who would not comment for this story, is not expected to renew the team's membership for next year in the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball when the independent league holds its annual meetings next month in New Jersey.

The Spirit would be the fourth professional baseball team in the past 28 years to leave Lynn, renewing questions about the city's ability to sustain a franchise.

"The ballpark location is difficult," said Miles Wolff, commissioner of the nine-team league, which is based in North Carolina. "Nick gave it everything he had for five years, but he just couldn't make it work. It's a business decision."

The Spirit lost $4.8 million in its first four seasons, but officials expressed hope of breaking even this year. The average game attendance for the regular season was 2,299, third in the Can-Am League, and totaled 110,336, according to league statistics.

The Brockton Rox, which drew a league-high 169,999 fans this season, is the nearest local competitor. The team, named in part for Brockton boxing icon Rocky Marciano, plays in the $17 million Campanelli Stadium, which recently was named the best playing field in the Can-Am League for the sixth consecutive year.

Ticket sales, concessions, and advertising are key revenues for independent baseball teams. Farm teams associated with Major League Baseball organizations, such as the Lowell Spinners, a Class A Red Sox affiliate, receive financial help from their parent club. But independent teams, such as the Spirit, receive no subsidies from the nonprofit league.

Players' salaries, which average about $1,500 per month, are among the biggest expenses. Stadium costs, including insurance, are also factors. Since most teams lack big-name ballplayers, they market themselves as affordable family entertainment. Spirit tickets cost $6, and game gimmicks included mascot races and theme nights.

"It's generally up to each team to make their own way," Wolff said. "You live and die with your team. Every team sets its own budget," the league commissioner said, while adding of Spirit owner Lopardo, "I believe his spending was higher than other teams."

The Spirit would be the latest in a revolving roster of minor league teams to exit Fraser. Farm clubs for the big-league Seattle Mariners and Pittsburgh Pirates left in the early 1980s after a combined three seasons. The independent Massachusetts Mad Dogs played for three years before moving in 1999 to Connecticut.

Although the Spirit lasted the longest, the team faced the same problems that drove the others out. Attendance was inconsistent. The average turnout went from a low of 1,854 in 2003, North Shore's first season, to a high of 2,701 last summer, and then fell to 2,299 this year, according to league statistics.

Its final game drew 803 fans.

One observer links the Spirit's struggles to a severe case of Red Sox fever.

"You're talking about a town that is in a Red Sox crazy area," said Andrew Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College who specializes in the business of sports. "If people want the family-fun of minor league baseball, they can get it in Pawtucket or Lowell and see the Red Sox stars of the future."

A year ago, Lopardo told Lynn officials the Spirit could leave if attendance didn't improve this season.

"It's no secret he wasn't happy with the attendance," said Lynn Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. "It's too bad, because they ran a first-class operation up there."

Fraser Field, which opened in 1940 as a federal Works Progress Administration project, sits amid a tight neighborhood off Western Avenue. On-street parking is scarce. For the last two seasons, city lots behind the stadium were taken up by contractors building Manning Field, a high school sports facility.

Lopardo spent an estimated $5 million to improve Fraser Field. New box seats were installed, along with modular buildings for the team offices, locker rooms, and concession stands. A video scoreboard was added in center field. Still, Fraser could not draw fans as well as shiny, new facilities such as Brockton's, Wolff noted.

"A new ballpark is a natural attraction," he said. "It's much tougher in an older one."

The Spirit's five-year lease with the city is due to expire on Oct. 31. The team paid $1 per year, in exchange for millions of dollars in renovations. A clause in the lease gives the Spirit ownership of the seats, modular buildings, scoreboard, and other fixtures added to the ballpark.

But the city believes at least some of those additions, such as the seats, should remain at Fraser. Real estate law states that any "fixture" added to real estate remains with the property owner, said City Solicitor Michael J. Barry.

On Monday, the city sent the Spirit a letter, advising the team not to remove any items from the park.

On Tuesday, Barry sent a letter requesting a meeting.

"We need a smooth transition," Barry said. "We have no indication that they're going to go in there and start removing things. We're doing what any landlord would do to protect their property."

The lease required the city to pay utility costs at Fraser, including heating, water, and electricity. In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the city paid $32,000 for electricity and natural gas to heat the team offices, locker rooms, and other areas, according to the city's Public Works Department.

The Lynn Water and Sewer Commission does not charge city-owned facilities for water or sewer services, so a figure for Fraser Field is not available, an official said.

The Spirit sometimes held special events, such as a fireworks display, that required city approval. "We granted all those requests," Clancy said. "No other team did as well in Lynn as the Spirit did. Maybe if [Lopardo] came here 20 years ago, who knows? He might have made it."

Kathy McCabe can be reached at kmccabe@globe.com.