Guelph Royals up for sale as 160-year baseball legacy begins new chapter | Globalnews.ca

They’ve been around since before Canada was a country, and soon the Guelph Royals will start a new chapter in their long and storied history as it secures a new owner.

For more than 160 years, the team has been a familiar presence in the city.

Now, with the team officially up for sale, that legacy is looking for its next steward.

The current owner, Shawn Fuller, who purchased the Royals in 2017, confirmed he is stepping aside after moving out of Ontario and said he wants to hand the team over to an owner rooted in the community who can “take it to the next level.”

To help find that successor, Fuller has turned to Kitchener-based realtor and sports entrepreneur David Schooley, who is handling expressions of interest and guiding the sale, listed at $750,000.

Schooley told Global News a new team would cost roughly $1 million to establish, making $750,000 the floor price for a franchise like the Royals.

For Schooley, taking on the sale of the Royals goes far beyond listing a property — it taps into the world he’s lived in for decades.

“It is somewhat of an honour,” he told Global News, adding that he approached the owner because he genuinely believed he was the right fit. “I suggested to him that I was the most qualified person to sell this team.”

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With nearly 40 years of business experience and ownership roles with both the KW Titans and the Kitchener Panthers, Schooley said he understands not just the business side of sports, but the community spirit behind it.

“I live sports day to day. I live sales day to day,” he said. “Selling a sports team is not like selling any other business. There’s a bit of passion to it.”

Part of that passion, he says, comes from understanding how deeply baseball is tied to the identity of communities like Guelph.

“The Royals have been around since 1861. Before we were Canada, they were playing baseball in Guelph,” Schooley said. “When you have legacy teams in your city, sometimes it’s easy to take them for granted.”

Interest in purchasing one of the country’s oldest baseball clubs is already growing. Schooley told Global News he’s heard from former athletes, business owners and local entrepreneurs.

“I’m really quite surprised at the number of inquiries we’ve had,” he said.

He added that league-wide momentum is also building, noting the Intercounty Baseball League is becoming a professional league, called the Canadian Baseball League. Last year, the league drew a record 249,000 fans to games across southern Ontario, from Barrie to London.

“It’s never been a better time to be in the baseball business,” he said.

But for Guelph, the heart of the story isn’t just the business side, it’s the sense of belonging. The Royals have weathered ownership changes, relocations and even folding mid-season, only to return with strong community support.

Generations of players, volunteers and families have grown up with the Royals, making them a true piece of Guelph’s heart and a summer tradition. That’s the legacy Schooley hopes the next owner embraces.

“The ideal owner would be a local business person or business group that truly believes it’s not just a business, but an opportunity to make large differences in the community,” he said. “We’re very much in the entertainment business, a party wrapped around a baseball game.”

For a team that has been part of Guelph almost as long as Guelph has existed, the hope is simple: that its next owner loves the Royals as much as the city has.

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