LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville is about to get a new baseball team.
The Louisville Jockeys will be taking the field next summer (May 2022) as part of the Ohio Valley League (OVL). OVL is a summer collegiate league with teams from Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee.
Chad Miller, the team co-founder, is excited for the Jockeys to take the diamond here in Louisville because of the city's rich baseball history.
"The most important thing is we want to drive the value of baseball, endorse and encourage the game," Miller said. "This really puts us in a good spot. "
The Summer Collegiate league mixes elite talent with performance, kind of like wrestling. Games are centered on talent, of course, but players also get to show their personalities by entertaining the crowd. Sometimes it's games and prizes, but the Jockeys plan on doing charity games... for every single night.
One of the featured events of a Jockey game will be a 'Husky Jockey' race. The charity of the evening will provide four, 215+ pound 'jockeys' to do a stick horse race. They'll let the crowd place bets on the four jockeys, then use the collections to benefit the charity.
They take the total pot, split it 50/50, pass 50% on to the end of season final races, and then choose one of the bettors from the winning jockey's pot in a raffle to get the other 50%.
The winning jockey from each race will move to an end-of-season opportunity, where the pots from every game will create a grand prize donation. Miller thinks it'll be close to $200,000.
"I think we have a really fun mascot," Miller said of why Louisville will love this team. "We have a yolked-out jockey that represents health and fitness, and fun."
Miller said the Jockeys are still inking out their deal for where they'll play in the city. He said the roster can hold up to 35 players, and right now they have 27 players committed. Of those 27, 22 players are local.
Miller also said he would offer every little league player in the city season tickets to games.
The first game for the Louisville Jockeys is set for May 30, 2022.
Contact reporter Hayley Minogue at hminogue@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
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