It has been a poorly-guarded secret since July and out in the open since late August, but finally, the powers that be have ripped off the Band-Aid once and for all: the Cleburne Railroaders and Kane County Cougars will be heading to the newly-christened National Association—the re-branded Frontier League—for the 2027 season.

It is believed that the National Association (which is apparently taking that name tomorrow, Thursday, October 1) is also releasing their 2027 schedule tomorrow, which will include Cleburne and Kane County.

What the American Association Gains

Sources have indicated that while the move was initiated by REV Entertainment, (owners of both franchises and the FL/NA’s Schaumburg Boomers), the split was mutual between the league and both clubs. So, at the very least, the AA sheds two franchises owned by a group that doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the league’s vision.

The biggest sigh of relief is that the American Association finally solves the Cleburne problem in the easiest possible manner: by shedding them entirely. Four AA clubs based in Texas folded between 2013-20 (plus in-between Wichita shuttered in 2018), leaving the Railroaders all alone two states and over 500 miles from their nearest foe—and over 1,000 miles from their five division rivals.

Multiple attempts have been made to pursue Texas expansion, but proposals from rebirthing the Fort Worth Cats to new clubs (and ballpark) in Waco, Denton, and Jersey Village (Houston area) have all gone nowhere. Now, the AA can focus efforts on their core markets, rather than chasing a faraway Texas market that has seen steadily diminishing returns in the independent baseball market over the last 20 years.

The AA will essentially return to the early-00’s Northern League footprint: a triangle loosely bracketed by Winnipeg, Kansas City, and Chicagoland, making travel much more palatable for everyone.

Additionally, after a historically bad pitching season across all of independent baseball, having two less teams could hopefully funnel better pitching to AA teams to balance the talent out a little better. Why? The American Association has a higher salary cap than the NA/FL and usually attracts better talent.

Due to more restrictive roster rules in their new league, many of Kane County’s older players would be unable to stay with the Cougars and some are reportedly already eyeing other AA clubs. Cleburne also will have this crunch, though they already turn over most of their roster annually anyways.

Lastly, the loss of the #1 Railroaders fan, voice of the Railroaders Brad Allred, is a sad one as a fan. He’s been a champion for Cleburne and the American Association for the last decade, so it’s unfortunate to no longer have him in the league and on AAbaseball.tv broadcasts.

What the American Association Loses

On the surface, it’s a bad look to lose a Kane County franchise that has led the league in attendance in all six seasons they’ve been around and won two Miles Wolff Cup championships. One source has suggested that maybe the organization isn’t quite as healthy as things would appear, but I have nothing concrete to substantiate that.

Regardless, the optics of losing one of your tentpole franchises aren’t good, especially when that franchise is leaving for has been considered an inferior league since the day that the Frontier and Northern Leagues launched in 1993.

In the immediate short term, the math behind a 100-game schedule with two divisions is trickier with 10 teams than it is with 12 teams, due to the need to keep blocks of games in 3 or 6 (with an occasional 4-gamer) to keep things simpler. I won’t bore you with the math, but trust me, I did: a 12-team schedule is much simpler.

Long term, there is one much larger issue that becomes more problematic when drastically tightening the footprint, something that is especially relevant in the coming months: the AA needs another franchise.

Remember, the American Association awarded an expansion team to Blaine, Minnesota in mid-August that will begin play in 2028. That means the league either needs to ditch another team after 2027 (not ideal) or find a second expansion market, preferably one ready to begin ballpark construction no later than next spring.

By losing Cleburne, yes, the AA doesn’t need to chase expansion in Texas or the South anymore…but that also means that it really isn’t an option anymore even if the stars aligned and a realistic option did come along. Right after finally shedding one island, the league isn’t going to willingly add another one, unless you somehow add multiple franchises in that further-flung region at once, but that’s not the discussion right now.

The AA needs one team to start play in about 19 1/2 months and the reasonable list of places to put it just got smaller.

As for the Departed…

Congrats REV, you got your teams into a cheaper league. Good job. But it won’t solve everything, especially in North Texas.

As I laid out earlier, just lowering the payroll isn’t going to solve problems in Cleburne. Railroaders reported attendance plunged by over 40 percent in 2026, with less than 1,000 announced fans per night. Plus, they won’t be much closer geographically to their new league than their old one.

Cleburne won’t be the worst draw in the FL/NA (send Brockton and New Jersey your thank-you cards now), but barring a stunning turnaround, they’ll still be losing money in the future. After all, Cleburne will still be a little too small, a little too far from Fort Worth, and too damn hot in the summertime.

Now, Kane County…hope you’re happy. Yes, you got screwed by the great MiLB purge of 2020, but you had the chance to show MLB that you could be better off without them. Yeah, Kyle Schwarber and Miguel Cabrera wouldn’t pass through anymore, but you could at least put together winning teams playing higher-quality baseball than Low-A and draw a crapload of fans doing it.

And guess what? They did for the most part. Two championships and all the attendance crowns are excellent achievements. But now they want to risk all that in the name of saving a few bucks.

Have fun putting together a winning team with a roster crunch, a lower salary cap, a metro area that already has an established juggernaut in Schaumburg and resurgent Windy City in their new league, plus trying to jockey for a title with 19 other teams in a league where apparently only Canadian teams are allowed to win championships these days (Quebec and Ottawa have won the last five FL titles).

Oh yeah, I have an inkling that George Tsamis wouldn’t be too enthused on working on a FL/NA budget, so they might need a new skipper next year, too.

Have fun, guys.

—

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