Florida’s Palm Beach County is raising money in the bond market to keep its hold on professional baseball for decades to come.
(Bloomberg) — Florida’s Palm Beach County is raising money in the bond market to keep its hold on professional baseball for decades to come.
The county of 1.5 million along the state’s southeastern coast is set to auction off about $123 million of bonds on Thursday to finance renovations at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, the only US ballpark that’s home to four Minor League Baseball teams. It also hosts spring training for two Major League teams, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Miami Marlins.
The project joins a wave of construction activity spurred by a late-2020 mandate from Major League Baseball that’s forcing local governments to upgrade or replace all the home stadiums for its Minor League affiliates before 2024’s opening day. At least nine new stadiums have opened since 2021, including CHS Field in St. Paul, Minnesota; TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, New Jersey; and Polar Park in Worcester, Massachusetts.
While some bond deals for similar projects are supported by ticket-sales revenue or tourist taxes, Palm Beach is financing the renovations with a share of its tax collections, shifting risk to the municipality, according to preliminary bond documents.
“If push came to shove, the county is on the hook,” said Mark Braun, Palm Beach County’s debt manager.
Baseball Boost
But baseball and Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium are a key part of community life, according to Alex Marquez, the general manager of DAS Beer Garden in Jupiter.
“This is a working community with a lot of professionals and it’s always good to have something safe like baseball to look forward to at the end of the day,” he said.
Patrons at DAS have an added incentive to root for the home teams. The restaurant, located near the stadium, offers a “batter of the day” promotion that gives customers free drinks whenever a chosen opposing-team player fails at bat. It was raucous last month when patrons won free drinks after that day’s strikeout target, Stone Garrett of the Washington Nationals, whiffed at the plate.
“Free beer!” Marquez said.
He said the beer garden’s revenues exceeded their 2019 pre-pandemic levels as the welcomed return of spring training this year brought fans from across the country. The previous three spring training seasons were either shortened or closed to the public due to the pandemic and a labor dispute between MLB and its players union.
Despite those obstacles, spring training still provided an economic boost of some $680 million to Florida during the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years, according to a report from the Florida Sports Foundation.
25 Years
Palm Beach County has served as a second home for the Cardinals ever since slugger Mark McGwire became the first player to hit a home run at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium during spring training in 1998, the ballpark’s inaugural year, according to Dan Good, the Cardinals’ vice president of business development.
The Cardinals and the Marlins had been engaged in talks with the county to renovate the aging stadium since 2018, prior to MLB’s minor league stadium upgrade mandate, but progress was delayed during the pandemic, according to Good.
The bond deal is aimed at keeping both teams at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium through 2049.
“Twenty-five years is a long time when it relates to fan amenities and our clubhouse functionality,” said Good. “We’ve been partners with Palm Beach County and the town of Jupiter for 25 years and we’re just excited that we’ll be there for another 25.”
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