Dash management cuts jobs as attendance falls

A dramatic drop-off in attendance at the Winston-Salem Dash's baseball games this season led the organization to reduce its off-field work force this week.

Kevin Terry, the general manager of the Dash, confirmed yesterday that there have been job cuts, but he declined to say how many positions were eliminated.

Sources told the Winston-Salem Journal that as many as 10 employees were affected. If all 10 employees were full-time staff, it would represent a 38 percent cutback of the 26 staff members listed on the team's Web site.

Terry said that even after the job cuts, the team's full-time staff "is still significantly larger than last year."

The full-time staff was beefed up in anticipation of the Dash attracting larger crowds to its new downtown stadium than the team did at Ernie Shore Field.

However, construction on the $38 million stadium has stopped in recent months as co-owner Billy Prim negotiates to buy the ownership interest of co-owner Andrew "Flip" Filipowski.

Although the Dash is vying for first place in the Southern Division of the Carolina League, its games at Wake Forest Baseball Park, formerly Ernie Shore Field, are becoming an afterthought in the community.

The Dash has drawn a combined 5,586 in announced attendance for its first 16 home games through Wednesday, with a high of 737 on April 25. That represents an average attendance of 349, including a double-header.

Terry said that announced attendance "includes everything that was sold for the game, including pre-sale, groups, walk-up, season tickets, etc. We have included some season tickets into our partnership packages."

By comparison, the combined announced attendance was 42,282 for the first 16 home games in 2008, or an average of 2,642. The Warthogs had an announced attendance of 8,132 on a Saturday night in May 2008. Only once in the first 16 games of 2008 was the attendance below the season high for 2009 to date.

The job cutbacks primarily affected employees in administration and sales, Terry said. Sources said that the staff reduction included new hires getting their first taste of a sports-marketing career and employees who had remained through the transition from the Warthogs to the Dash.

"Unfortunately, the season has not moved forward as planned due to the ownership restructuring, and because of that we are forced to make some very unwelcome changes," he said.

Terry did not provide an update on talks between Prim and Filipowski, who have co-owned the team since 2002.

Terry said that although the restructuring of ownership "is a must for the future prosperity of the team, ballpark and community, there are unfortunate side effects. These cutbacks are one of the top items on that list."

"We anticipate that these changes will be short-lived," he said. "We will continue to provide a good overall experience for our fans moving forward."

It is likely that the team will play all of its home games this season at Wake Forest Baseball Park. Wake Forest University purchased it from the city of Winston-Salem as part of the agreement for the new stadium. Sources have said that the new ballpark will not be ready until the 2010 season.

City officials have asked Prim for more information about the stadium project, including where Prim plans to get the money to complete the stadium. A subcontractor has filed a mechanics lien against the stadium developers.

Mayor Allen Joines said yesterday that the Winston-Salem City Council expects to receive a stadium plan from the organization in the next couple of weeks. Sources said that further city involvement may be requested to help secure a loan for completing the stadium.

The city gave the team $12 million to help pay for construction of the stadium, of which $5.5 million was borrowed. The city's finance director, Denise Bell, said that over the 20-year life of the loan, the city would end up paying about $8.6 million with interest.

The city's money came with a few conditions -- among them, that the downtown ballpark must be completed no later than March 2010 and that the team had to help repay the money the city borrowed to help pay for construction.

Scott Reifert, a vice president of communications for the Dash's parent organization, the Chicago White Sox, said that it is aware of developments regarding the Dash and the stadium.

"We are fully supportive of the Dash ownership group," Reifert said. "We enjoy a wonderful working arrangement with our affiliate in Winston-Salem and want the Dash to have a successful season both on the field and in the stands."

When asked whether the inability to complete the stadium could lead the White Sox to pull the affiliation, Reifert said he is not aware of anyone in the parent organization expressing that concern.

■ Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com.