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A 30-year, $26.5M Contract

In Minor Leagues, Uncategorized by BVS82 Comments

Sounds like a steal? It probably is.

The city of Myrtle Beach reached a new agreement with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ ownership group last week that, hopefully, will breathe some new life into a once-exemplary minor-league ballpark experience. This comes after a series of short-term contracts, including last year’s one-year extension, between the city, Horry County (the “H” is silent), and the ownership group.

The sticking point recently has been Horry County. The county has been clear that they thought their investment in the park was a money-loser and was looking to get out of their 30% ownership stake. This year, MLB finally demanded a firm commitment from Myrtle Beach to minor league baseball. As a result, the city of Myrtle Beach bought out the county’s ownership stake for $8.25M. From there, the city was able to negotiate a new long-term contract with the ownership group, led by Chuck Greenberg. At last week’s city council meeting, the city council approved taking over the county’s ownership stake by a 4-3 vote, with one of the councilmen suggesting the park would lose $100,000/yr for the first 10 years. Apparently, Greenberg offered on the spot to add that amount to the lease, and the long-term contract was done.

There is a lot of work to do on Pelican’s Park. MLB says it needs $20M in upgrades to meet Single A standards for players. As a fan, the estimate of $15.5M in additional needed repairs seems low, but hopefully we’ll see vast improvements by next spring. It has been clear for years that the city-county ownership was deferring or ignoring maintenance. Back in the early 2010s, it was voted the best Single A fan experience. Among the most pressing needs:

  1. Scoreboard. It’s an older electronic style. Virtually illegible until the sun goes down and even then, many of the blocks of lights no longer work. The marquis below the main scoreboard that used to show hitters stats apparently died a few years ago, since it’s been covered by banners of ads since. I think the scoreboard should be shifted from left to right field, so the sun doesn’t directly shine on it for the first 4 innings of the game.
  2. Sound system. Varies between garbled, blaring, or tinny, depending on your seat and who knows what, possibly whether real Pelicans or Chinese spy balloons are flying overhead.
  3. Seating. Deferring maintenance has led to many seats folding down at an angle lower than they should, so you slide off, or unevenly, so you lean left or right. They came from Fulton County Stadium. So…
  4. Flooding. When it rains, the men’s bathrooms flood as rain seeps through seams of the concrete from the stands overhead. I assume the same in the women’s bathrooms, but haven’t asked.
  5. Parking exit. The exit is two lanes, but there is so much overgrowth of bushes into the right lane, that it is essentially one lane now, which makes getting out of the ballpark a hassle.
  6. Field drainage. I’m pretty sure this is part of the $20M player upgrade part, but afternoon rains are common on the SC coast, and waiting two hours for a game delay to have clear weather then to be told the game is postponed due to “field conditions” is a drag.

A major improvement that the team ownership could make would be to return to accepting cash. Would you prefer to send your 11-year-old to get a pretzel with your credit card, or with cash? I’d send with cash. You can buy “Splash Cash” with your cash and then you or the kids can use it, but it is non-refundable and I don’t know if it carries over from year to year, though it does last the season. Supposedly this speeds the line. Pretty sure it reduces tips.

Upgrade/repair needs aside, the fan experience is generally quite good. The game-day and ticket office staff has always been really nice and friendly. They have fun between-inning contests. They have jumpy things and other stuff for kids to do if they get bored. The bat dog and Pelican and Shark mascots are usually around for pictures. They have good promotions and Friday fireworks. All the seats have great views. Food is pretty good and not outrageously priced in comparison to other venues.

If you go:

Food: Not all the concessions have the same options, look around if you don’t want standard fare. If you are gluten-free you should not plan on dinner there, your options are the celery/carrot tray with hummus, peanuts, popcorn, or maybe nachos if the cheese doesn’t have gluten thickeners.

Parking: Free, but plan on walking after you park.

I usually attend 6-10 games a year. If you are going to buy 10 tickets or more/season, flex books save a lot of dough. I’ve been rained out both times I’ve gone to a game so far, so I can’t comment on the team, except they are firmly in last place in the Carolina League South. Ismael Mena is with them, he was acquired in the Yu Darvish trade. JP Wheat throws heat, sometimes in the zone.

If you want to sit in the sun, sit on the 3rd base side (home is first base side).

If you like dogs, most home games feature Slider, the bat dog. He retrieves dropped bats on selected home half innings. No word on whether the players think dog spit helps harden calluses. He often gets the biggest cheer of the night, especially when the team isn’t hitting.

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Comments

  1. andcounting

    That accepting cash thing is a drag. I just found out this week that Wrigley doesn’t accept cash either. (dying laughing)

    Great post, Skip. It really would have been a bummer if they Pelicouldn’t get that done.

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  5. Rice Cube

    Having to remember trivia about former Cubs legend Rodrigo Lopez was not on my BINGO card today

    Daily Walkoff ⚾️
    Cubs #293

    🟢🟢🟢🟢🚀

    dailywalkoff.com

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  7. Author
    BVS

    Rice Cube,

    The usher told me last week that part of the cashless push was because workers were pocketing cash, which I kind of doubt because so many of the gameday staff have been there for years.

    Perhaps the city pushed it so there was a better accounting of receipts…hmmm.

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  8. Author
    BVS

    Rice Cube,

    Dropping Kelly in the order makes sense since he’s been scuffling. Could argue that Berti should start at 3b today with a .429 BA and 1.4xx OPS against Peralta.

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  13. andcounting

    Also, here’s your completely irregular reminder that in 1998 Sammy Sosa hit 20 homers in the month of June.

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  23. Author
    BVS

    Perkins,

    Yeah, he hasn’t been terrible, but he hasn’t made it impossible not to cut him. Maybe we could trade him for an A-ball guy. Maybe the Orioles want him.

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  34. berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron versing George Kirby and the Forgotten Land

    LF Happ
    RF Tucker
    DH Seiya
    CF PCA
    SS 🦢🍆
    1B Busch
    2B Hoerner
    3B Shaw
    C McGuire

    SP Boyd

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  37. Author
    BVS

    Randomness:
    With Rizzo and Brooks Raley not playing this year, there are no longer any players from the morass of the 2013 Cubs in MLB.

    Still 3 guys left from 2014 though, thanks to the youth movement that was finally shuttled in: Javy, Soler, Kyle Hendricks.

    Moving to 2015 only adds Schwarbs, unless Carl Jr claws his way back onto a roster (cut by the Angels in April).

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  42. andcounting

    I love how they said it’s his first time back to Wrigley Field in 21 years like that was the plan all along for jersey reasons.

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  46. Perkins

    The 4+1 rule from Nike is dumb for several reasons, but my greatest beef with it is allowing road greys to be eliminated to preserve colored alternates.

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  68. andcounting

    Horton! Happ! Tucker! About as good of a start as we could hope for. This is gonna be a looooooong day. (dying laughing)

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