Andreatta: It's Dinolfo's turn to save Rochester baseball

Do the people running Monroe County have any idea how easy it would be to relocate the Rochester Red Wings?

“If it came to the point where we had to relocate a ball club, we would be able to do that,” International League President Randy Mobley said. “That’s a fact.”

Mobley spoke Monday by phone from his office in Ohio, after spending the weekend here watching Red Wings CEO Naomi Silver shock team shareholders with news that the Red Wings are operating month-to-month out of Frontier Field.

More: Red Wings could leave after 2018 if Frontier Field lease not resolved

Silver explained to them that the team and the county, which owns the stadium, haven’t been able to come to terms on the 10-year lease deal she and County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo announced in August.

“That type of situation is problematic,” Mobley said.

The lack of a long-term lease presents a problem because the league can’t afford a situation in which one of its 14 teams can’t finish the season. Opening Day is April 6. The scheduling has been completed. Travel arrangements have been made.

“That type of situation has to be treated very carefully,” Mobley said. If it goes unresolved, he said, the league could “step in.”

What does that mean, “step in?”

“If you play it out to the one end of the spectrum, it means the league can revoke the franchise and take possession of it and relocate it and do whatever needs to be done to ensure it can play somewhere,” Mobley said.

“That’s the nuclear option,” he added. “But it can go to that extreme.”

His words shouldn’t be considered a threat. Relocating the Red Wings is not something Mobley wants to do. He knows what the Red Wings mean to Rochester and he said he has confidence the team and county can works things out.

But Mobley has an entire league to consider. He acknowledged exploring new homes for the Red Wings last year. Mobley declined to identify the cities, but said, “There are certainly options available to us.”

Indeed, Rochester Community Baseball Inc. warned shareholders in its annual report: “(T)here is a definite concern that we might continue to be without a lease for the 2018 baseball season. In such a case, we would be forced to play our baseball games at another venue, undoubtedly not in Rochester…”

Moving the Red Wings can’t happen overnight. The owners of the other teams in the league would have to approve. There are territorial rights and the blessing of the Major League Baseball affiliate to consider, too.

But it can happen in the span of a few months, which is already how long Monroe County has been flirting with letting the oldest continuously operated minor league sports franchise in North America fly away.

The dispute, of course, is about money. The county wants more from the Red Wings because the deal worked out in 1997 was never enough to cover the $44 million in debt the county floated to finance the building of the stadium.

The deal involved the Red Wings cutting the county in on revenue generated by parking, suites and naming rights and, to a lesser extent, ticket sales, concessions and advertising.

It made liars out of previous county executives who promised taxpayers would never have to foot the bill for the stadium. Today, taxpayers are on the hook for another roughly $8 million to be paid through 2024.

Silver has said the Red Wings can pay the county more, but not as much as the county wants without upending the corporate objective of Rochester Community Baseball to “provide reasonably priced family entertainment in a wholesome environment” and stay in the black.

More: Andreatta: The Red Wings aren't going anywhere

Dinolfo seems to think she has Silver over a barrel. She knows the Red Wings are Silver’s family legacy in Rochester, with Silver’s father having saved pro baseball here 60 years ago.

But it’s the other way around. Dinolfo is over the barrel and it’s her turn to save professional baseball in Rochester.

What is she going to do? Let the Red Wings leave town while taxpayers are still covering the debt on an empty stadium? That won't go over well for her.

Without the Red Wings kicking in, the annual county contribution would nearly double. Is that the legacy Dinolfo wants to leave?

Because it can happen very easily.

David Andreatta is a Democrat and Chronicle columnist. He can be reached at dandreatta@gannett.com.