MADISON-  Just prior to the inaugural season of the Rocket City Trash Pandas and in an unexpected move, Ralph Nelson has resigned his position as President and CEO of the Rocket City Trash Pandas. The team officially made the announcement Wednesday afternoon.

General Manager Garrett Fahrmann and Vice President Lindsey Knupp will step into leadership roles while the ownership of the Trash Pandas will remain intact with the company BallCorps partially owned by Nelson.

The Trash Pandas open their inaugural season May 4 with the home opener set for May 11 at Toyota Field.

In a statement from Nelson, he indicated he wants to pursue other endeavors. The statement read, “It is time for me to focus my energies on a new project as a new opportunity was presented to me. It was the pursuit of another team and potential relocation, which will require my full attention.”

One source close to Nelson has indicated he’s assisting a team relocate to Maryland including the building a stadium in the same manner he did in Madison.

The City of Madison also issued a formal statement, which read, “The City of Madison has been working closely with the BallCorps team to ensure success for Toyota Field and the Trash Pandas. While this change in leadership comes at a critical time ahead of opening day, we are confident in the professional staff BallCorps has assembled to lead us through the 2021 season. The City continues to work with BallCorps to finalize the 2020 season audits as per our license agreement and has every confidence we will receive full payment once the audit is complete.”

The City of Madison committed $46-million to build Toyota Field and with the shortage of income in 2020 due to the planned first season scrubbed by the COVID-19 pandemic money recovered by the City of Madison became an issue. Nelson indicated the team lost $17.8-million in revenue and was expected to pay Madison $1.5-million as part of its agreement.

The Trash Pandas’ released statement read, “We thank him (Nelson) for his service and wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

“In the past months I made a commitment to pursue this new opportunity, and with the Trash Pandas inaugural season about to begin, my desire is to go back to the work that I love the most: building a new team and a new stadium,” indicated Nelson in his statement.