David Lane has a secret. Make that secrets. Plural. Like the name, logo and team colors of the New Orleans Pelicans' new G League franchise coming to Birmingham for the 2021-2022 season. You can ask for the details, but the general manager won't tell. Patience, young grasshoppers.
Wait. Is that it? Grasshoppers? Starting a franchise from scratch isn't new to Lane, whose last professional challenge was helping to birth a minor league baseball team in Fayetteville, Ark., named the Woodpeckers. In 2019, their first year of existence, they cracked the top 25 in merchandise sales among all 160 minor league clubs.