Storm’s Striking Solution

The Lake Elsinore Storm might be a minor league baseball franchise, but they’re ready to “big league” the competition.

The Storm, a California League affiliate of the San Diego Padres, is offering baseball fans a chance to “strike back” against major league players and owners with a ticket-swapping promotion.

Fans can exchange a ticket to a major league game dated Aug. 30 or later for the equal value of a ticket or tickets to Lake Elsinore’s game Aug. 27 against the Bakersfield Blaze.

“The fans are frustrated with today’s climate. This gives fans the opportunity to voice their opinions and to strike back at the owners and the players’ union,” Storm General Manager Dave Oster said.

As an example, Oster said that a person with four box-seat tickets worth $25 each to a major league game would receive 15 box-seat tickets worth $7 each to the Storm game.

As part of the strike back promotion, the Storm will give free admission to fans named Donald, Bud or Allan (Commissioner Bud Selig’s first name).

In conjunction with the promotion, Lake Elsinore has unveiled a revenue-sharing plan where the team will tax each dollar made over $15,000 at 1% and split it equally among the other nine California League franchises.