It is always about money.
Major League Baseball owners are probably the toughest group of all the sports owners in North America. The Major League Baseball owners eviscerated a partnership with Minor League Baseball after the 2020 season. In a thorough sweep of the minor league baseball business, more than 40 minor league baseball franchises were extinguished in time for the 2021 season. Some of those remaining minor league owners better do what is right for MLB or risk losing their licenses to be a partner of Major League Baseball. Franchise owners better watch out. If a franchise owner doesn’t have a stadium up to whatever Major League Baseball owners’ standards are, MLB has issued a warning, get a new stadium built or renovate your stadium or else. The owners of the Reading Fightin’ Phils Double A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies are on notice. Do something with your 70-year stadium, get a new one or renovate the present one or your license could be revoked. Reading is about 63 miles northwest of Philadelphia and MLB franchises like having nearby affiliates as long as those affiliates play by MLB rules. Who is the majority owner of the Reading Fightin’ Phils? The Major League Baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies ownership.
MLB wants certain standards met. In Reading, parking, locker rooms, weight rooms, and eating spaces need to be improved. It is estimated it will cost about $15 million to get the stadium up to MLB’s standards. Where will that money come from? Local politicians hope Pennsylvania elected officials will send money their way and get the renovations done by 2023. Pennsylvania sent money to Erie in 2018 to upgrade the city’s stadium. It was the third time that that 26-year-old baseball park was upgraded. Reading’s ballpark has undergone numerous upgrades but it is not enough for Major League Baseball which always wants more.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
