Phillies secure $85 million in public funding for renovations to Clearwater facilities
The Pinellas County (Fla.) Board of Commissioners approved the use of tourism dollars to help fund the Phillies' $205 million redevelopment of BayCare Ballpark and the Carpenter Complex.
Amid their longest on-field losing streak in seven years, the Phillies scored a big victory in their bid to renovate their spring-training facility.
In a 6-1 vote Tuesday, the Pinellas County (Fla.) Board of Commissioners approved a term sheet to apply $85 million in tourism dollars to help fund the $205 million redevelopment of BayCare Ballpark and the Carpenter Complex in Clearwater, Fla.
“I consider this moment to be one of my most important legacies of my tenure,” Phillies owner John Middleton said via Zoom in a meeting with the commissioners. “Now, we just need to win the World Series.”
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The term sheet, which runs through the Phillies’ 100th anniversary in Clearwater in 2047, outlines upgrades to multiple areas of the facility, including an expansion of the left-field concourse and the retail team store, the construction of a two-story building in center field with a fan roof deck, a new baseball lab, and enhanced concessions.
Other improvements, such as renovated clubhouses and a new video board, were already made or are underway.
The project is expected to be completed by 2029.
In designing the renovations, Middleton said the Phillies researched and visited athletic training facilities across the country and in Europe “to study the best practices used by world-class teams.”
It marks the first major overhaul for the Phillies’ facility since it was built in 2004. Middleton said the team’s talks with the county about renovation plans “spanned four mayors and eight different county chairs” in six years.
“Some people might view a long time as problematic,” Middleton said. “But I believe the process that we went through underscores the unique relationship, a symbiotic relationship among the city of Clearwater, Pinellas County, and the Phillies.”
According to the term sheet, the Phillies will retain all the revenue from the naming rights to the ballpark. They will pay a total of $550,000 per year for the use of BayCare Ballpark and the Carpenter Complex.
Despite a $317 million payroll, as calculated for the luxury tax, the Phillies had lost seven consecutive games entering play Wednesday night in Chicago. They were 8-15, tied with the 99-loss 2015 team and the 2002 club for their worst 23-game start since 2000.
In Trea Turner and Justin Crawford, the Phillies have two of baseball's fastest players at the top and bottom of their batting order. It's a baserunning coach's dream. Paco Figueroa sat down with "Phillies Extra" to discuss his philosophy on baserunning and how the Phillies might be able to leverage the elite speed of Turner and Crawford to boost an offense that has struggled to score runs early in the season. Watch here.
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