How attending a Myrtle Beach Pelicans baseball game will be different in 2021
The last Myrtle Beach Pelicans game at TicketReturn.com Field was Aug. 22, 2019.
So it will be nearly 21 months between minor league baseball games at Pelicans Ballpark when the team plays its 2021 home opener on May 11, and the coronavirus pandemic that forced the long layoff will also change how the games will be attended upon their return.
“It has been an extremely long time since we’ve hosted a Pelicans game and I can’t wait,” Pelicans general manager Ryan Moore said. “Our fans are excited, our partners are excited, the amount of buzz we’ve been hearing around the community has been overwhelming, and we’re very excited to see smiling faces come through the gates again.”
For the Chicago Cubs’ Low Class A affiliate’s six games in May it is limiting attendance to 50 percent of capacity, or about 3,300 spectators, which Moore said follows a recommendation by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster.
The team will reassess all of its season-opening protocols for June and thereafter, after analyzing how the initial policies worked and considering any new or relaxed Major League Baseball or government mandates.
MLB, which now oversees the minor leagues, is requiring spectators to wear masks at games when not eating or drinking.
Some sections allow for social distancing, there will be seats between groups in other sections, and the picnic area will be saved for overflow standing-room only and won’t be available for picnics in May. Single groups can have picnics in the beach area near left field.
The first row behind dugouts will be empty, per MLB rules.
“We really just want to have it be a safe and conducive environment for fans to come out and have a good time,” Moore said.
The clubhouses and field will be restricted areas to protect players, coaches and umpires. So between-innings entertainment will be held in a separate area of the park and displayed on the video board.
Autographs won’t be allowed to begin the season and enhanced cleanings of the stadium and clubhouses will be regularly performed.
Though there are no vaccination requirements, Moore said 90 percent of the Pelicans’ staff and vast majority if not all of the players and coaching staff have already been vaccinated.
The team has partnered with the Fan Food mobile ordering platform that allows fans to order food online from their seat and pick it up at a designated window, and delivery to seats is likely coming later in the season.
Back on the baseball diamond
The team is expected to arrive in Myrtle Beach late next week. Its players are in spring training in Arizona, as MLB split spring training this year with the big league club and triple-A players early, and single-A and double-A later.
Myrtle Beach has been an Advanced-Class A team since its inception in 1999 but is moving down to Low-A this year through a reorganization of minor league baseball that involves the takeover of the pro baseball development system from top to bottom by MLB.
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) had been a separate organization with an agreement with MLB.
Myrtle Beach is in the South Division of Low-A East, which is made up of three divisions. The other three teams in the South Division are also in South Carolina in the Charleston RiverDogs, Columbia Fireflies and Augusta GreenJackets in North Augusta.
Myrtle Beach opens the season May 4 at Charleston and has a 120-game schedule through Sept. 19.
The season features 20 series split evenly between home and away. Each series is comprised of six games beginning Tuesday and ending Sunday, leaving Monday as a league-wide off day throughout the season.
In addition to its South Division rivals, the Pelicans will play Down East and Fayetteville of the Central Division and Lynchburg and Salem of the North Division, so all of their games will be in the Carolinas or Virginia.
Regarding promotions, the Pelicans have a new fireworks partner for 14 post-game shows that include the home opener, July 3-4, Sept. 5 and all Fridays. Thirsty Thursdays and Sipping Saturdays will feature $1 beer, $2 wine and a discounted 64-ounce Mega Mug Riptydz mixed drink.
Pelicans tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Pelicans Stadium ticket office and MyrtleBeachPelicans.com, where the team’s COVID safety protocols are explained. Four VIP suites are sold for the season and others are available for single games.
Pelicans Stadium upgrades needed
Major League Baseball is requiring minor league ballpark owners to meet new player development standards in order to keep their franchise rights and player development contracts, so Pelicans Ballpark will need some upgrades in the near future.
Moore said the team must update the standards for player development facilities and their training environment over the next four years.
He said the clubhouses are too small and don’t have the required amenities including sizable indoor batting cages, workout facilities and commissaries.
A separate female locker room is also required with increasingly more women being hired in baseball as coaches and umpires.
Moore said certain benchmarks must be met in 2023 and 2024, and the team has until 2025 to make the full changes or at least have an approved plan for the changes.
The city of Myrtle Beach and Horry County co-own the stadium and lease the land from Burroughs & Chapin Co., and the Pelicans’ agreement to use the stadium ends this year but a two-year extension is being negotiated, Moore said.
He said the Pelicans, whose managing partner is former Texas Rangers partner Chuck Greenberg, are talking to city officials as well as developers about the options to expand or rebuild parts of the stadium on surrounding land, particularly beyond the outfield.
How will the upgrades, which are expected to cost several million dollars, going to be funded? Moore said that is to be determined. He addressed the Myrtle Beach City Council about needed changes and possibilities at its budget retreat earlier this month.
“How can we make this more than just a ballpark?” he said. “Can we add some additional development and can we make this more of a multi-use facility as opposed to a primary baseball facility? Can we host concerts on a more frequent basis, can we have meeting space and banquet areas and look at how we can really transform what we think of it as a ballpark today? It will add more value to the community.”
The Pelicans already plan to have more events at the stadium than in past years.
A scheduled comedy show starring Preacher Lawson was canceled Saturday due to the threat of inclement weather, the Long Bay Symphony will perform a Beatles tribute show on May 7, and the MercyMe contemporary Christian band out of Oklahoma is scheduled on May 22. Other events are being planned.
“They are part of our ongoing efforts to use the stadium for purposes other than Pelicans games,” Moore said.
This story was originally published April 25, 2021 at 9:00 AM.
