A NEW ERA IN BISCUITS BASEBALL: New ownership debuts with Tuesday's home opener
Cooper Kenny and the Montgomery Biscuits open the 2026 home season on Tuesday against the Columbus Clingstones. (File Photo)
By TIM GAYLE
It’s a new era in Montgomery as On-Deck Partners will make its debut as the new owners of the Montgomery Biscuits in this week’s series with the Columbus Clingstones at DABOS Park.
On-Deck CEO Mike Carney admits Tuesday’s home opener couldn’t get here fast enough, even as Biscuits’ management is working feverishly to get the stadium ready for the 2026 season.
“It’s surreal,” Carney said. “The anticipation has only grown. We’ve really made a ton of progress. We want the Montgomery market and residents and businesses to know, it was really important that they saw how serious we are.
“My hope is that what we’ve done over the last two and a half months really proves that out.
Carney grew up in the Washington, D.C., suburbs and spent the last 10 years with the Washington Nationals, most recently as the executive vice president of business operations and as the Nationals’ chief revenue officer. It’s given him a unique perspective of how to appeal to baseball fans and learning how to network with other organizations.
He recently joined forces with longtime friend David McNairy, chief executive officer of DABOS, in renaming Riverwalk Stadium as DABOS Park.
“In any kind of business partnership, the most important thing is that values align,” Carney said. “You can write whatever you want in a contract, but if the values don’t align, it’s very difficult to ensure that the commitments that are made are delivered. Knowing David for a long time and working with DABOS for a long time, I knew the value alignment was there.”
There are specific community actions Carney and McNairy will take to make the ballpark a central hub for the downtown entertainment district, but first Carney wanted to transform DABOS Park into a destination for minor league baseball fans by changing concessions and enhancing the experiences for the local military.
“First and foremost, there will be two brand-new hospitality areas in the ballpark,” Biscuits general manager Mike Murphy said. “We’ll be adding some food locations, revamping our kids’ area, adding some food-truck opportunities on the left field side.
“There are a lot of things that are going on, some of which we’ve talked about doing (in the past). Some are things that On-Deck Partners have come in and said, ‘What about this?’ It’s been a great relationship for us to be able to present some ideas for them and they say, ‘Yes, but what if we went a little bit bigger?’ Definitely, a lot of conversations that are still ongoing for our fans.”
Carney believes the fan experience will be a major plus for the team and the facility, but he’s quick to ask for feedback because of his lack of experience with the local community.
“I hope that if there are fans that don’t feel that vibe, they’ll let us know,” he said. “But there are a few immediate things that the fans will feel when they walk through the gates. For example, local Montgomery food trucks. That was something that was important to us, that the community knows we are engaged with local businesses.
“And there will be other such examples, such as an expanded kids’ area.”
When Carney took ownership of the Biscuits in December, he spoke of other objectives in making DABOS Park a destination site, but some of those objectives are still in the planning stages.
“There have been very productive conversations,” Carney said. “specifically with regards to concerts and one major offseason event. I don’t have anything to announce yet but we’ve had really productive conversations with artists on the concert front as well as specific partners on the winter festival side. I’m still very confident that both of those will be delivered in 2026.
“These things take time and we’ve been really focused on making Opening Day really special, so our focus will turn to that right after Opening Day.
Carney knows Opening Day is special at every level of baseball. He’s looking forward to his first Biscuits’ game on Tuesday night at DABOS Park.
“The energy of Opening Day is something that’s hard to put into words,” he said. “There isn’t a chance that I would miss Opening Day. On-Deck Partners is looking to make Opening Day really special in Montgomery.”