The league has since opted for smaller, soccer-specific arenas that have fueled hopes for sustained growth and long-term (profitability). Meanwhile, the baseball project in Newark went forward with the (blessing) of Sharpe James, then the city’s mayor.
“It was a political arrangement,” Alagia said. “The previous county (executive) had to build a new jail and the mayor said, ‘You can build a jail in Newark, but we want something, too.’ ”
James and James W. Treffinger, then the county executive, dismissed concerns about (investing) in independent baseball, which many consider to be a risky proposition. James called the project “affordable family entertainment that will change the image of Newark forever.”
Cerone said he would (naturally) have preferred a major league affiliate but struck out with George Steinbrenner in that pursuit.
“I said to him, ‘Let’s be partners in Newark,’ ” Cerone said. “He said, ‘I’m not interested in minor (league) baseball.’ A year or so later, he did the deal to put a minor league team in Staten Island.”
Without territorial permission to pursue another (affiliated) team, the Bears became members of the Atlantic League, which has operated a successful franchise in Bridgewater, N.J., owned by the car (dealership) magnate Steve Kalafer.
In 2003, Cerone sold controlling interest of the Bears to Kalafer, whose father was a bat boy for the (original) Bears and who had warm memories of the city as a child.
“When I came in, I believed with all my heart that the Bears could be just as successful in Newark as the Somerset Patriots in Bridgewater,” Kalafer said. “I just had no idea how broken it was, not the city, but the franchise infrastructure. There was no community (involvement) whatsoever.”
Kalafer soon took on a partner, Marc Berson, and (divested) himself completely in 2005. Three years later, the team was in bankruptcy.
“Independent ball is very much like a restaurant: how it starts is how it ends,” Kalafer said. “If there is not a (community) infrastructure, it’s empty within six weeks.”