In a big news drop right before spring training, the Kansas City Monarchs announced on Thursday, April 23 that they have been sold to longtime minor league baseball owner Quint Studer and KC Roots.

Not much is out there on KC Roots, which is presumably some form of community organization. Not to discount them, but the big name (and undoubtedly the one with the money behind the deal) is Studer.

The sale returns Studer, who resides in Pensacola, Florida, to the American Association. The 75-year-old, who also owns the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos and High-A Beloit Sky Carp, purchased the independent Pensacola Pelicans midway through their first season in 2002 and owned them through the rest of their existence (2002-10), including the first five years (2006-10) of the AA’s existence before they folded to make room for the Blue Wahoos.

Out with the Old…

The sale concludes 6 1/2 years of ownership by Max Fun Entertainment, headed by Kansas City-based investor Mark Brandmeyer. The group purchased the club (then known as the T-Bones) in a distressed state in October, 2019 after founding owner John Ehlert defaulted on over $700,000 of utility and rent payments, resulting in the team’s temporary eviction after the 2019 season.

Brandmeyer first announced a touch-up of the T-Bones branding for the 2020 season, which was never played in Kansas City. With an extended offseason, the group then pivoted to their greatest legacy, the early-2021 rebranding of the club, with the blessing of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, to the Kansas City Monarchs.

Under Brandmeyer’s ownership, the Monarchs honored their predecessors in style, going 298-201 over the last five years, hoisting the Miles Wolff Cup in 2021 and ’23. They’ve had the best overall and two best single-season records (69-31 in ’21 and 65-35 in ’22) in the AA since COVID. Smartly, ownership recognized that Joe Calfapietra is one of the very best managers in independent baseball and made it a priority to keep him around.

However, the more important side (the financial side) of the club never got untracked under Brandmeyer’s leadership. The T-Bones drew over 200,000 fan annually in their first 15 seasons (through 2017) and still averaged nearly 3,500 per night in 2019, right before the sale. Since 2021, though, announced attendance has struggled to top 2,000 fans per night, with a total draw of 105,302 in 2022 being the best showing in the last five years. In 2023 and ’24, the club fell well short of the 100,000-fan marker.

Max Fun tried various ploys to bring more fans to the park. Some worked out well (bringing the Savannah Bananas to town in 2022 and ’23 and the Enchant holiday event in the winter of 2023) and others have had more mixed results (two music festivals in 2024 led to major field issues that cancelled an entire homestand; a 2024 holiday event that was marred by underwhelming attractions and non-payment of performers). In the end, though, attendance was disappointing out of the gate in 2021 and never improved in subsequent seasons. As a result, unofficial sources suggest that the club lost a significant amount of money during that time.

…In With the New

Quint Studer is undoubtedly an interesting name to be involved with the Monarchs. His baseball ownership goes back to his mid-2002 purchase of the Pensacola Pelicans, then in their first season, guiding the club through two league transitions, including their inclusion when the AA was launched in 2006.

The Pelicans were always in a tough spot from a ballpark standpoint. They played their entire existence out of Jim Spooner Field, the home field of Division II University of West Florida, which “boasted” 3,000 seats, all on aluminum benches, no suites, spartan media accommodations, and no protection from Florida’s heat and rain. Studer wanted (and frankly, needed) a new ballpark—and naturally also wanted a higher-profile team to play in it.

The Pelicans shut down after the 2010 season (officially having their AA slot sold to a group that launched a new club in Amarillo, Texas), but that was because Studer orchestrated a complex deal: purchasing the Minor League Baseball territory rights to Pensacola from the nearby Mobile Bay Bears, purchasing the Double-A Carolina Mudcats to move to Pensacola, then facilitating the transfer of the High-A Kinston Indians to backfill in Carolina. Most importantly, a shiny, new downtown ballpark would open in 2012, and Studer’s Pensacola Blue Wahoos began play that year.

In late September, 2019, Studer purchased the then-Beloit Snappers, a then-Low-A club located near his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin. At the time, Beloit was in the final stages of planning for new a ballpark (which opened in August, 2021). The club, along with the rest of the Midwest League, would be bumped up to High-A in 2021, then was re-branded to the Sky Carp in 2022.

Under his ownership, the Blue Wahoos have been one of the top draws in the Southern League, averaging over 4,000 fans per night in all but one of their first 14 seasons. Meanwhile, in one of the smallest markets in pro baseball, Beloit has boasted the three best-drawing seasons in that franchise’s history under Studer’s watch, including a club-record 112,808 fans in 2025.

Studer still owns the Sky Carp and Blue Wahoos, both of whom are Miami Marlins affiliates.

So What’s Next?

This close to Opening Day, there’s no reason to expect any major changes to the Monarch for the 2026 season. The train is already too far down the tracks for any seismic moves to take place immediately.

With that said, it would not be surprising if there are significant front office shakeups in Kansas City next winter, as is common in the first offseason after an ownership change.

Maybe the most interesting line from the release is this: The decision to sell came after a direct outreach from Studer (emphasis mine). Given Studer’s involvement in professional baseball has been limited to just two franchises over a quarter-century, the question is why did the 75-year-old go out of his way to acquire a third club?

Perhaps he sees the Monarchs as a depressed asset vastly underperforming it’s potential that he believes he can rehab…or perhaps he sees an opening for another Pensacola-esque deal to bring affiliated baseball to the Kansas side?

That second possibility is certainly murky and would likely take multiple years to put together. Legends Field opened in 2003 and would need millions (and possibly tens of millions) in upgrades to meet MiLB facility standards, though the ballpark was overbuilt enough two decades ago that the to-do list may not be as long as first glance.

Nonetheless, finding the money is probably going to tougher now that the Kansas City Chiefs are getting billions from the state of Kansas for a new stadium, so I doubt there’s much appetite for local or state governments to hand over any more public money for stadiums. Even if all that goes through, the Royals would have to sign off on any affiliated team moving into their territory, or the more likely route, agree to shift their High-A affiliation from Quad Cities.

At the end of the day, maybe Studer isn’t looking in that direction and simply wants a new challenge. Either way, he’s inheriting a club with an exceptional on-field track record, but a lot of work to be done on the business operations side.

With a new boss in Kansas City, it will be fascinating to see how it plays out.

—

Thanks for reading! Please give me a follow on Twitter/X at @AABaseballFan1 and Instagram at @aabaseballfan