The owners of the Florence Y’alls are expanding their portfolio by buying another baseball team.
The Y’alls ownership group, led by club President and CEO David DelBello, has purchased the Windy City ThunderBolts. The team, located in the Chicago area, plays in the Frontier League, the same circuit as the Y’alls.
Financial terms weren’t disclosed for the deal that was completed Oct. 4. The Y’alls owners will continue to own the Florence club as well. The two teams are close competitors, even now that they share the same ownership. Both teams play in the Frontier League’s West Conference and will square off against each other nine times in the 2025 season.
The Y’alls owners are still committed to Florence and bought a second team to expand their operation, DelBello told me.
“We are proud of what we have been able to accomplish in Florence and believe we can leverage the learnings here to make other teams more successful,” he said.
“Windy City is a franchise we know well, in a major market and importantly, we believe we can help make it more successful.”
He plans to take the Y’alls focus on community engagement and entertainment to Windy City to build that team’s fan base. DelBello highlighted examples such as the Y’alls in-game entertainment and fan engagement, its T-ball youth leagues, the Deck the Y’alls holiday celebration at its Thomas More Stadium home and its team-sponsored youth teams.
“All help make the team a true community asset and a successful business," DelBello said. “By focusing on the same compass, we believe we can make more teams more successful.”
He and his ownership group don’t plan to stop at just one acquisition.
“Of course,” he said, when asked if they’d like to buy more teams. “But nothing is imminent.”
The Y’alls ranked sixth among the Frontier League’s 18 teams last season in attendance, averaging 2,187 fans per home game, according to Frontier League data. Windy City, which plays in Ozinga Field in Crestwood, Ill., in Chicago’s south suburbs, rank behind the Y’alls in attendance. They averaged 2,071 fans per game, 10th in the league.The Y’alls finished in fifth place in their division last season with a 44-51 record. Windy City ended up in seventh place at 40-56.
DelBello leads a group that bought the team, then known as the Florence Freedom, from Kim Brown in 2019. Brown’s husband, Clint Brown, had bought the team out of bankruptcy in 2004.
DelBello is president of residential real estate investment firm DelBello Holdings and came to Cincinnati in the mid-1990s as a Procter & Gamble Co. employee.
The Frontier League is an independent minor league consisting of teams that do not have any direct affiliation with Major League Baseball teams. It’s designated as one of four MLB Partner Leagues. Those independent leagues collaborate with MLB on various initiatives, serve as development leagues for young players who have not been signed with MLB teams, give other players a second chance at signing with an MLB team and provide playing and coaching opportunities through MLB-sponsored programs for people with diverse backgrounds. More than 1,000 players over the years have advanced from Frontier League teams to MLB organizations.
The Frontier League’s 18 teams, including two clubs being added for the 2025 season, play a 96-game schedule each year from May to September.
