Contact: Liz Kern
Cell: 715.424.5400
Email: liz@raftersbaseball.com

“Wisconsin Rapids Rafters” is the winner of

“Name the Hometown Team” contest

Team unveils name and official logo at press conference

The “Rafters” are coming to town! Tonight, in front of a standing room only crowd at Hotel Mead in Wisconsin Rapids, the newest member of the Northwoods League unveiled their name and identity. The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters will call Witter Field home starting this summer. From Friday, January, 15th thru Wednesday, January 20th the team held an online vote to determine the name of the franchise. The top three selections are as follows:

• Rafters - 29%
• River Rats - 23%
• Boggers - 22%

Total of 1,650 votes!

The identity of the team incorporates all three of the top vote getters. Rafting was a prominent activity on the Wisconsin River, primarily as part of the logging industry in the delivery of logs to the various mills along the river. The creature riding the raft is a “River Rat.” The team will create a mascot based on the River Rat and will host a “Name the Mascot” contest. “River Rats” was the nickname of the people who operated rafts on the Wisconsin River en-route to the mills. Finally, the team’s primary color will be Cranberry Red, a tribute to the strong cranberry industry in the area.

The winner of the “Name the Hometown Team” contest is Brian Schmidt of Wisconsin Rapids. He will receive a pair of season tickets for the 2010 season. Twelve people submitted Rafters as their idea for the name of the team during the first phase of the contest and they will each receive a 9-game pack for the 2010 season. Various other prizes were awarded for fans creativity with the name they submitted.

A full menu of ticket options, pricing and packages was unveiled during the press conference. Season Tickets, group outings and 9-game plans are now on sale at the Rafters office at City Hall in Wisconsin Rapids. The Rafters will play a 70 game schedule with 35 home games in 2010. Opening Day at Witter Field is scheduled for Sunday, June 6 at 6:05 vs the Eau Claire Express. For more information log onto raftersbaseball.com or call (715) 424-5400.

Wisconsin Rapids Team to unveil team name name and logo on January 27th

Event open to public, featuring FREE TURKEY LEGS!

“Baseball Like it Oughta Be!” is coming to Witter Field this summer and the team’s identity will be released at a press conference on Wednesday, January 27th at Hotel Mead starting at 6:30pm that will be open to the public. The contest, which started on December 16th, has generated over 700 names for the team to date.

The opportunity to submit new ideas for the name of the team will end at 5:00pm on Thursday, January 14th. Starting at 9am on Friday, January 15th, fans will be able to vote for their favorite nickname for the team from a list of six finalists (selected by how often a certain name has been submitted by the end of the contest) at Rapidsbaseball.com, or by sending an email to info@rapidsbaseball.com. Fans will be able to vote for their favorite finalist one time per fan through 11:00pm on Wednesday, January 20th.

The press conference will feature a small taste of what fans can expect when they venture out to Witter Field for a game this summer. There will be free ballpark food, soda and, yes, FREE TURKEY LEGS at the event, which will be one of the several great food options at the ballpark in 2010.

Several prizes will be awarded at the event, including:

• A pair of 2010 Season Tickets for the fan who was the first to recommend the winning name.
• A 9-game pack for anyone who submitted the winning name.
• A prize for most unique name submittal.
• A prize for the best story behind a name submittal.
• A prize for the largest number of different submittals.

A full menu of ticket options, pricing, packages and more will be unveiled during the event as well. Season Tickets and 9-game plans will go on sale for the first time at the event. The Rapids Baseball Franchise will play a 70 game schedule with 35 home games in 2010. Opening Day at Witter Field is scheduled for June 6 at 6:05 vs the Eau Claire Express.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Liz Kern
Phone: 715.424.5400

Liz Kern becomes the Northwoods League’s first female
General Manager in 16-year history

Wisconsin Rapids--December 16, 2009. The Northwoods League is officially coming to Wisconsin Rapids and will be calling historic Witter Field home. The team will be owned by Steve Schmitt, who owns the Madison Mallards in the NWL, and Vern Stenman who has operated the Madison franchise since its inception in 2001. The General Manager of the team will be Liz Kern, who has been the Mallards Customer Service and Ticket Sales Manager the past three years, becoming the Northwoods League’s first female GM in its 16-year history. The expansion franchise becomes the league’s 16th team.

In 2001, Schmitt and Stenman took over the expansion Mallards after three professional teams had failed in Madison and have since transformed the franchise into being the widely-regarded most successful summer collegiate team in the country, drawing 6,005 fans per game in 2009 which was nearly twice the next closest team in the country
(La Crosse, WI). The 2009 attendance ranked the Mallards 31st amongst all minor league teams in the country (including summer collegiate, independent and affiliated professional) in per-game attendance while operating in the 84th largest media market in the country. In 2004 the team drew a summer collegiate baseball record crowd of 10,061 fans and in August of 2007, Madison surpassed the One Million mark in franchise attendance, when ten-year-old John Olsen of Elkhorn, Wisc. walked through the gates of the ballpark affectionately known as the “Duck Pond.”

The Mallards have also been competitive on the field appearing in the playoffs in five of the last seven summers and competing in three NWL Championship Series’, winning the title in 2004 over the Duluth Huskies. Over 51 former Mallards have been drafted and competed in professional baseball.

Kern, a 2006 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, was an outfielder on the softball team and will be moving to Wisconsin Rapids permanently in January. She has managed the Mallards customer service working with over 600 business clients and has been responsible for renewing over 95% of those accounts annually. Kern joined the Mallards as a part-time employee in 2004 and has seen an increased amount of responsibility every year since that time.

Witter Field hosted minor league baseball until 1983 when the Wisconsin Rapids Twins of the Midwest League departed for Kenosha, WI. Since then the field’s primary tenant has been the Wisconsin Rapids Legion program who has done an admirable job maintaining the historic field. The Legion teams will continue to have access to the ballpark during the term of the lease and the NWL team is excited about working with the Legion and all other area teams.

“The Wisconsin Rapids Legion program is one of the best in the country and we couldn’t be more excited to be coming to a market that already has a great passion for baseball – we look forward to helping build that passion in Rapids for years to come,” said GM Kern.

The ownership group will detail a plan to install 400 permanent former-County Stadium seats at Witter Field for 2010 as part of a partnership with the city of Wisconsin Rapids.

A “Name the Hometown Team” contest will run through the middle part of January with the winner receiving season tickets for 2010. Those wishing to submit entries should visit Rapidsbaseball.com. Team name ideas can also be submitted via email to info@rapidsbaseball.com.

Ticket pricing, team name and logo will be unveiled at a press conference in January. Fans can get priority seat selection by placing a $25 deposit by visiting Rapidsbaseball.com, calling the office at 715-424-5400, or at the press conference tonight.

Tonight’s press conference will be streamed live from the Centralia Center at http://www.livestream.com/rccatv beginning at 6 p.m.

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The press conference from the Centralia Center in Wisconsin Rapids can be seen at: WAOW.com