DAYTON, Ohio—There will be no minor league baseball games this year. The season canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. With several minor league teams across the state, that means several communities are seeing economic impacts.
What You Need To Know
- Minor League Baseball is canceled for the 2020 season
- Teams say they aren’t surprised with the decision, but disappointed
- This also means great economic impact in the cities
While Major League Baseball will be back this summer, fans will have to wait for the more intimate experience of going to a minor league game until next year.
“It was definitely a sad day because there was definitely some finality to the 2020 season,” Jordan Taylor the General Manager of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers said. “Always held out some hope.”
The owner of the Dayton Dragons says based off of conversations the last few months, he wasn’t entirely surprised by the decision.
“When you think about the challenge that Major League Baseball is currently having with getting 30 teams up and running, imagine trying to accomplish that with 160 different teams,” Bob Murphy the owner of the Dayton Dragons said.
The Dayton Dragons brings in over $27 million into the community each year. With no season, that means less money being spent in the area.
“That’s the economic impact being lessened by not being able to play,” Murphy said. “So we feel disappointed for those folks too because we know how hard they work. They’re our neighbors and we want them to be successful.”
For the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, outside of Youngstown, missing out on ticket revenue is a big hit.
“Most of the revenue comes from the in-game ticket sales,” Taylor said. “So missing out on that is a big hit. So it’s a lot harder for us to play games without fans than Major League would be able to right now.”
The Scrappers are a major part of summertime fun in the Mahoning Valley too.
“Minor League teams are such a big part of the communities they’re in and losing that for the summer is a big hit,” Taylor “In the Mahoning Valley here, this is really the big summertime event.”
And while both clubs are disappointed, they know they must look ahead, and that starts with enticing season ticket holders to renew.
“To be perfectly transparent, we need these people to renew their season tickets,” Murphy said. “So we’re trying to create a renewal opportunity that will be very, very difficult for them to say no to.”
Both clubs say now that the decision is done, it’s time to look forward to 2021.
