The naysayers like to make a big deal out of the Pensacola Pelicans aren’t an affiliated team. Of course they can’t be playing in the tiny UWF ball park, that is even substandard for a college ball field.
The most-likely affiliated league for Pensacola would be South Atlantic. Here are their Single A ballparks:
Appalachian Power Park
West Virginia Power
Affiliation: Pittsburgh Pirates
Capacity: 4,500
Opened: 2005
Applebee’s Park
Lexington Legends
Affiliation: Houston Astros
Capacity: 6,994
Opened: April 9, 2001
Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium
Kannapolis Intimidators
Affiliation: Chicago White Sox
Capacity: 4,600
Opened: 1995
First Energy Park
Lakewood BlueClaws
Affiliation: Philadelphia Phillies
Capacity: 6,558
Opened: 2001
Grayson Stadium
Savannah Sand Gnats
Affiliation: New York Mets
Capacity: 8,000
Opened: 1941
Joseph Riley Ballpark
Charleston RiverDogs
Affiliation: New York Yankees
Capacity: 5,800
Opened: 1997
Lake Olmstead Stadium
Augusta Greenjackets
Affiliation: San Francisco Giants
Capacity: 4,322
Opened: 1995
L.P. Frans Stadium
Hickory Crawdads
Affiliation: Texas Rangers
Capacity: 5,100
Opened: 1993
McCormick Field
Ashville Tourists
Affiliation: Colorado Rockies
Capacity: 9,765
Opened: 1992
Municipal Stadium
Hagerstown Suns
Affiliation: Washington Nationals
Capacity: 4,600
Opened: May 8, 1930
NewBridge Bank Park
Greensboro Grasshopers
Affiliation: Florida Marlins
Capacity: 7,449
Opened: 2005
Perdue Stadium
Delmarva Shorebirds
Affiliation: Baltimore Orioles
Capacity: 5,200
Opened: 1996
State Mutual Stadium
Rome Braves
Affiliation: Atlanta Braves
Capacity: 6,100
Opened: April 11, 2003
West End Field
Greenville Drive
Affiliation: Boston Red Sox
Capacity: 5,000
Opened: 2006
Of course, an affiliated team will not give its profits to the City of Pensacola and guarantee $250,000 for five years. It will not sign a 10-year lease or build a $12M office building or give $2.25M for the maritime museum.
But let’s look at the ballparks built in the last five years:
Appalachian Power Park
West Virginia Power
Affiliation: Pittsburgh Pirates
Capacity: 4,500
Opened: 2005
The park is on the edge of downtown Charleston, W.Va. and is located on corner of Morris and Lewis Streets next to the Clay Center for Arts and Sciences, and the Avampato Discovery Museum Cost: $23 million -$18 M of the financing for the stadium came from the city and the state. The owners of the West Virginia Power contributed the remaining $5 M – (getting the naming rights)
Serves as the field for Marshall University and the University of Charleston. It also hosts the West Virginia state high school baseball championships. The stadium has also hosted concerts, boxing matches, and shown television coverage of college football games on its scoreboard. In 2008, parts of The World’s Strongest Man competition were held at the stadium.
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NewBridge Bank Park
Greensboro Grasshoppers
Affiliation: Florida Marlins
Capacity: 7,449
Opened: 2005
Cost to build $21.5 million – voted on by the citizens.
Hosted 2010 ACC Baseball Tournament. The park is owned by the City of Greensboro but was privately-funded. Major development has been proposed in 2009 adjacent to the stadium, a $60 million to $100 million complex called Bellemeade Village.
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West End Field
Greenville Drive
Affiliation: Boston Red Sox
Capacity: 5,000
Opened: 2006
West End Field is modeled after Fenway Park. The ballpark includes a miniature version of the Green Monster and a Pesky Pole down the right field line. est End Field is selected as the 2006 “Ballpark of the Year” by Ballparks.com. West End Field is chosen over Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals) and Medlar Field at Lubrano Park (State College Spikes). In 2007 attendance nearly reached 340,000 setting a new season record.
The park is downtown. The facility also hosts numerous civic functions, like the United Way donor recognition event, and special sporting events including exhibition games and college baseball games.
The $16 million ballpark was built with private funds and $2 million in improvements have been added since then. The city paid for infrastructure improvements and provided the land.
From April 2010 article in The State about the economic boom that came with the park:
The public-private partnership with the Drive has proven to be an economic bonanza, city officials said.
Based on business and building permit data, 48 new businesses have opened within a quarter-mile radius since the ballpark made its debut in 2006, city officials said. Those businesses generated more than $12.5 million in sales as of Dec. 31, the officials said.
According to the city’s data, 67 building permits were issued for commercial and residential projects having a total value of more than $11.7 million.
Within a half-mile radius of Fluor Field, 110 new businesses have opened since April 2006, city officials said. Those businesses have generated more than $41.9 million in sales as of the end of last year.
According to the city’s data, within that expanded radius, 242 building permits were issued for commercial and residential projects with a value of more than $49.6 million.
New West End businesses since the ballpark opened include 17 restaurants and bars, 10 retailers, 36 artist studios, a hotel, dance studio, health club and a special-events meeting facility, city officials said.
Read more.
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Highlights:
Downtown baseball parks work as economic catalysts.
The Maritime park is too small with current seating for affiliated ball.
The City could have let Studer build the stadium, keep the profits and any donation to the Maritime museum, drop the lease, drop the life insurance — and not build his $12M office building—that would have provided $17.75M for the stadium. But that isn’t what the voters approved – the Maritime Park is more than a ballpark.
The simplest thing would have been to let Studer build the ballpark and let everything else develop on its own – but that never was the plan, which makes the attacks by Donovan and Nobles who sat on the city council from 2004-2008, while the project was discussed, seem so ludicrous. The Council and the citizens approved the Maritime park while they were serving and had the final votes on it.
