Johnstown, PA (WJAC) — The Johnstown Mill Rats’ future in the Prospect League is uncertain after the league’s website removed the baseball team from display.
Johnstown joined the Prospect League as an expansion team and played their first game in May of 2021.
Now, they’ve disappeared from the league’s website without any announcement from the league or team owners.
An old screen capture of the website shows them listed in the teams’ section, but when we checked recently – we found nothing.
The league did, however, add two new teams, but a press release only states that these new teams are replacing other teams, which leaves Johnstown in limbo.
City manager Ethan Imhoff said he talked with the local ownership group, and they want to keep the team in Johnstown.
Officials say they have a board meeting on Sunday with the Prospect League where they’ll put forward a proposal that could decide their future.
While Imhoff has talked with local ownership, he said he has not talked with Bill Davidson, the CEO of their parent company -- National Sports Services.
One of the local owners told us in a text that, “the local owners’ goal and vision is to prepare for the 2024 season and keep the Mill Rats in Johnstown.”
While the city has no control over the future of the Mill Rats, the city signed a contract to provide them with a stadium through 2025.
Imhoff says if the Mill Rats don’t stay, that they will cross that bridge when the time comes.
While their destiny remains uncertain, one part of the contract stated that Bill Davidson and National Sports Services are expected to provide a Prospect League or higher-level team through 2025 and city leaders said they expect them to fulfill that commitment.
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