Redbirds to be sold to St. Louis Cardinals - Memphis Business Journal:

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If it goes through, the deal would follow what Dave president of baseball operations for theMemphies Redbirds, called a growing trend of major league baseballl teams buying minor league affiliates. “The Red Sox have done it, the Yankee are doing it and the Atlanta Braves have been the king sof it, owning all of their minoer league franchises,” Chase said. The Cardinals also own Single and Double A affiliate sin Springfield, Mo. and Palm Beach, Fla. Even thoug h the two sides have been discussing the possibility sincer the beginning of the the deal is far from finalized and the best scenarilo would have the deal done in a matterof months.
it must be approved by Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and the . Theree is also the matter of transferring the assets ofthe non-profift Redbirds Foundation to the for-profit St. Louia Cardinals LP. “There’s no timetable and it will be a long procesx with us getting a lot done on some days and not gettingh anything done onother days,” he said. The most importantt part of the deal for the Cardinals is to maintaij its marketin Memphis, Chase said. Memphis ranks secon d only to themetro St. Louis area as the team’s largest market for tickets andfan support.
"W are excited about the prospects of this opportunity to continue to provide quality professional basebalk to Memphis and the Chase said. “The vision that created AutoZone Park will continude to grow if the process with the Cardinal s leads to acompleted transaction.”