NLN EXCLUSIVE

The Aurora Borealis have called for a press conference to be held at 2 PM this afternoon.  While the subject of the meeting has not been revealed, sources tell Northern Lights News that a major announcement regarding the future of the franchise will be made.

Ever since the passing of John Rodriguez, Sr. last week, there has been rampant speculation over who will take control the Borealis.  In addition to acting as the Commissioner of the PEBA, Rodriguez was the team’s founder and the only owner the club has known.  This dual role was viewed with suspicion by some, even drawing attention from members of Congress.  Rodriguez has been an icon of Colorado sports, guiding the Borealis to three consecutive 112+ win seasons.  His passing casts doubt over the club’s chances of continuing that run of unprecedented success.

Much of the confusion stems from the tangled relationships between Rodriguez and his two sons, John, Jr. and Christopher.  It has been the brash and vocal Christopher who has been far and away the more hands-on of the two siblings, acting as Borealis Vice President of Operations.  Christopher’s flair for the bombastic (he has a penchant to communicate through self-aggrandizing press releases) ran counter to Rodriguez’s more modest business practices, which were founded on the principle of mutual respect for all involved regardless of their status within the organization.

Rodriguez kept Christopher reigned in until his stroke in 2009.  When Rodriguez sank from public view following his illness, Christopher became much more visible, acting as the mouthpiece for the team (often to the discomfort of members of the front office).  A couple of his more brazen public statements, in which he opined on various trades, drew the ire of other PEBA organizations, including a retort from San Antonio GM Matt Higgins that, “(Christopher) wouldn’t make it thirty yards into the state of Texas before a private citizen and his Constitutionally-protected friend shared a piece of their mind with him.”

In contrast, John, Jr. has remained largely uninvolved with the Borealis for most of their existence, instead focusing on his private real estate business.  Despite his lack of involvement with the team, John Jr. by all accounts enjoyed a closer relationship with his father than brother Christopher.  The business styles of elder and junior Rodriguez meshed more readily, and when Rodriguez took ill it was John Jr. who spent the majority of time by his side.  Speculation has been that Christopher felt envious of his brother’s close ties with the family patriarch and that the relationship between the siblings has been strained.

In recent months, John, Jr. has been present at several team and league-related functions, including acting as moderator of the public-televised PEBA round table meeting held in January.  This, coupled with the acknowledged closeness of elder and junior Rodriguez, has prompted some to speculate that John, Jr., not Christopher, will be heir to the Borealis throne.  Most insiders still believe that ultimately it will be Christopher who takes over, as he has far more hands-on baseball experience than his older brother.

We will have word from this afternoon’s news conference as soon as it is available.