For minor-league baseball franchises, Canada has become a different field of dreams.

Last year's departure of the Ottawa Lynx to Allentown, Pa., where they became the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, marked the final out for Triple-A ball north of the 49th parallel.

Gone are the days when Canadian clubs including the Vancouver Canadians, Calgary Cannons, Edmonton Trappers and Ottawa served as top farm teams for Major League Baseball clubs.

Vancouver is the only Canadian team still affiliated with a major-league club - the Oakland A's - albeit at the A level, where many players are rookies or have limited pro experience. Franchises in the other cities are playing under new names and owners, along with Winnipeg and Quebec City, in fledgling independent leagues - where hopes are tall but crowds are small.

The Canadian Press (Jeff McIntosh)
Former Calgary Flame Theoren Fleury hopes to swing with the Vipers.

With the exception of Vancouver, the old business model, where major-league clubs supplied players - and, more importantly, paid their salaries and some travel expenses - has disappeared like Shoeless Joe Jackson into a cornfield.

Instead, most of the Canadian clubs must pay all of their own bills as they serve up a no-frills brand of the summer pastime.

"I don't think there's any difference in operating an independent or unaffiliated franchise," says Peter Young, president and CEO of the Calgary Vipers of the Golden League.

"In Calgary, there's considerable wealth and it's just trying to win back the fans that are still, basically, disillusioned because they lost their Triple-A team."

All of the other Canadian teams face the same battle, trying to win back the affections of fans who saw their beloved Triple-A franchises move to the U.S.

The rebirths of Canadian franchises follow a trend of other Canuck ball clubs folding and reopening under new names.

But history shows that the battle to regain fans is a long one.

"I was in Winnipeg when the (NHL's) Jets left, and it took three to five years before anybody started supporting the (Manitoba) Moose (of the American Hockey League)," says Young.

In addition to winning back fans, many clubs must spend millions upgrading stadiums that are several decades old.

Young says Vipers owner Jeff Gidney has spent $3 million on Foothills Stadium, while Vancouver Canadians co-owner Jake Kerr says his group spent $2 million - four times as much as originally planned.

Like some of the washed-up ex-major leaguers now toiling for their teams, few Canadian owners hit financial home runs.

Young says Calgary will probably break even on its $1.3- to $1.4-million budget this season. Kerr says the Canadians will make a slight profit over expenses of $2 million. Edmonton and the new Can-Am League Ottawa Rapidz will also be lucky to make money.

However, Winnipeg owner Sam Katz, also the city's mayor, is expected to reap the largest rewards, considering the Goldeyes have already broken the two-million mark in all-time attendance.

But his club faces an uncertain future as the troubled six-team Northern League contemplates a merger with the American Association.

After last season, Calgary and Edmonton defected to the Golden League from the Northern League, citing high travel costs. Unlike many minor leaguers, the Calgary Vipers and Edmonton Cracker-Cats fly to most road games.

Young says the Vipers will spend about $80,000 on travel this year compared to $220,000 last year because of better scheduling and flights through Los Angeles rather than Chicago.

In Vancouver, however, "we're very proud of the fact that we're the last affiliated minor-league team in Canada," says Kerr. "We have an excellent relationship with the Oakland A's, and we're in a very strong and historically stable league, the Northwest League.

"The A's are a very good partner. They provide all of our ballplayers and coaches, so it allows us to concentrate on running Nat Bailey Stadium, a business that we sort of know."

He estimates his club saves at least $500,000 that it would have to spend on salaries, although he is not privy to the player payroll. But Young, whose team has a $130,000 payroll, says independent teams benefit because players are slated to stay with the team an entire season.

"They're not going to get called up or sent down or sat on the bench because a bonus baby (highly touted player who received a signing bonus) has to get X number of at-bats," he says.

Kerr believes independent clubs would rather be affiliated with major- league teams.

"It's not to say we couldn't be an independent-league team," says Kerr. "I think (a farm team) is a better business model. We don't have to spend our time trying to find players all over the place. That's a tough racket."

Despite the adversity, Canadian owners still eagerly step up to the plate to stare down high hard ones from fickle fans, wild weather and the most dreaded foe of them all - indifference.

"We certainly found out quickly that, because you know how to run a big company like Lignum (Forest Products) or A&W, it doesn't mean you're qualified to run a small baseball team," says Kerr, who founded Vancouver-based Lignum.

"A lot of the things that my partner (Jeff Mooney, executive chairman of A&W Canada) and I learned over the years about running major businesses don't apply. In this case, the business model is, everybody helps out to do everything."

He and other Canadian minor-league owners bloop out a few bucks from broadcast and concession deals, sponsorships and wacky promotions. "Last year, I did Vasectomy Night," grins Young.

Another well-established feature of the minor-league baseball business is quirkiness.

In a move reminiscent of then-St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck's signing of midget Eddie Gaedel for a one at-bat in 1951, the Vipers signed pint-sized former Calgary Flame Theoren Fleury, who will play after the team clinches its first-half pennant, says Young.

In another zany move that would have made Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Cliff Fletcher chuckle, the Vipers dealt pitcher John Odom to the Laredo Broncos of the United Baseball League, another independent circuit, for 10 maple bats worth about $650.

The trade created a boon for Red Deer bat makers Jared Greenberg and Dan Zinger, who scored hundreds of new orders for their Prairie Sticks maple model as news of the deal spread.

The Vipers drew media coverage from Canada, the U.S., U.K. and Australia, and the club's charitable foundation received $10,000 after the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum purchased the bats.

Meanwhile, clubs like Calgary and Ottawa try to generate other revenue by staging concerts and other events in their parks on non-game days, while the Canadians will put on a symphony concert next season in a bid to boost their bottom line.

Calgary's Young believes the Vipers turned the corner toward profitability when they drew a 3,200 walk-up crowd for a playoff game last season.

"We know that, because we became a winner last year. Winning does matter in this market," he says.

But, ultimately, he and Kerr say, the final score doesn't matter as much as ensuring fans enjoy fun family entertainment.

"As long as you provide that, the people will come," says Kerr.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)