Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ season is canceled. What the team has planned for stadium uses
The Myrtle Beach Pelicans won’t play baseball in 2020.
This year’s minor league baseball season has been canceled because of the impacts of the coronavirus. The Pelicans and other teams were informed Tuesday afternoon that Major League Baseball will not be providing its affiliated minor league teams with players for the season.
The Chicago Cubs’ Advanced Class A affiliate was planning to start its 22nd season as a franchise in early April. This season was going to be the Pelicans’ sixth as a Cubs affiliate after four seasons with the Texas Rangers and 12 with the Atlanta Braves.
The Pelicans employ 17 full-time staff at their peak and more than 200 game-day employees, according to general manager Ryan Moore. The team hasn’t laid any employees off but about half of the staff is being furloughed with full health benefits, Moore said.
“It’s the worst timing for this to happen right before our season were to start. We’ve already incurred all of our expenses ramping up in anticipation of opening up our gates in April, so to have no revenue coming in and all the expenses makes for a tough situation,” Moore said. “With the support we’ve had from the community over the years, we’re not going anywhere.”
The team plans to use Pelicans Ballpark for other purposes this summer and through the winter. A fireworks display scheduled for Friday was canceled, however.
“Our plan is to utilize the ballpark for a variety of events throughout 2020 and beyond,” Moore said. “Everything we’ve planned for the most part has had to be walked back. We’re going to try to open the ballpark but it has to be in a safe manner.”
The park has become a free COVID-19 testing site for Tidelands Health and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, and is scheduled to be used again on July 17 and July 31. “We remain committed to being a good community partner,” Moore said.
Major League Baseball resumes training this week and is scheduled to begin a 60-game schedule on July 23 – without fans in ballparks. MLB and its teams have the benefit of revenue through television contracts, while minor league teams rely on attendance to survive financially.
MLB has established 60-man “player pools” for each team, divided into a 30-man playing roster and a 30-man reserve unit that will train at a nearby facility. The reserve units are comprised primarily from Triple-A and Double-A teams.
MLB teams released hundreds of minor league players in late May and early June.
If minor league baseball resumes next year, the landscape is expected to be very different.
Before the pandemic swept across the U.S., MLB and MiLB were in a battle over the Professional Baseball Agreement that expires after the 2020 season. That agreement essentially facilitates partnerships between MLB and MiLB teams, and MLB reportedly wants to eliminate at least 40 teams to reduce the size of minor league baseball.
The Pelicans are not expected to be part of the contraction that is now likely considering many minor league franchises have been weakened financially by the coronavirus’ impact including the cancellation of the season.
As detailed by Baseball America, MiLB owners are now battling to save their teams through partnerships with MLB owners. But dozens of communities are expected to lose their minor league franchises.
This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 5:07 PM.
