SI Daily Cover: Minor League Baseball in Crisis

In response to an SI survey on the effects of the pandemic, minor league teams made one thing clear: An American institution will never be the same.

Baseball is America’s Pastime. That’s not just Major League Baseball but the minor leagues, too. Minor-league baseball is woven into the fabric of communities both large and small across the United States. Last year, attendance nationwide topped 41.5 million – the 15th consecutive year greater than 40 million.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the minor leagues incredibly hard. There are no multimillion-dollar television deals to save the day. Minor-league teams are wholly dependent on fans filling the stadiums. That’s not happening now – and might not happen anytime soon.

As SI.com’s Robert Sanchez wrote:

A Sports Illustrated survey of minor league organizations, sent to all teams in late April, shows just how desperate the situation has become. The responses of 68 clubs—in addition to interviews with executives representing 21 of those teams—make clear that the minor leagues are facing a crisis that could destroy professional baseball in cities across the country. At every classification level, in markets ranging from metropolitan cities to rural outposts, front offices are worried about their clubs’ survival, concerned about the viability of rival teams and wondering how the minors will recover from a pandemic that is pummeling an American institution.

Teams are doing what they can to at least make some money. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the Class-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers who play about a half-hour south of Green Bay, have Friday to-go fish fries. With the stadium closed, there is an online store to buy merchandise. But that's no substitution for butts on the bleachers.

“By the time we get past [COVID-19], we might be looking at 18 months without significant revenue,” says Jason Freier, the chairman and chief executive for Hardball Capital, which owns the TinCaps, a Padres affiliate, as well as the Class A Columbia (S.C.) Fireflies and the Double A Chattanooga Lookouts. “Minor league baseball is in a terrible position, because we can’t just open up and start playing if we get the all-clear in November. We have to sit and wait, and I don’t know of many businesses that can go that long without income.”

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