MLB demands threaten loss in Baseballtown
News that broke this week concerning the Reading Fightin Phils was enough to put a bit of a damper on the unofficial start of summer, and not just for baseball fans.
State legislators and Reading officials are working to come up with money to make up to $15 million in improvements to city-owned FirstEnergy Stadium as demanded by Major League Baseball. If the work isn’t done in time for the 2023 season,
MLB may require that the Philadelphia Phillies AA affiliate play someplace else.
Under a new agreement that took effect this year, MLB is taking control of the minor leagues. One of its initiatives is bringing facilities for minor league players up to contemporary standards.
Reading is far from the only city affected by this decision. Many places with older stadiums will have to address the same issues or risk losing their teams as well.
But there’s little solace in that for the fans of Baseballtown. Until this situation is resolved, there’s going to be considerable anxiety about the fate of one of our community’s most beloved institutions.
Team officials and local political leaders are offering assurances that they are working hard to make sure the needed work gets done and are urging people not to panic. We’ll take that advice and urge others to do the same. But the fact remains that this needs to be treated as a most urgent matter.
Let us stipulate that we don’t like MLB’s tactics here. The big league clubs have been decidedly high-handed in their approach to minor league cities since taking over. The number of affiliated teams already has been reduced, leaving many places with no professional baseball or a less attractive version of it. Now MLB is putting communities in a position where they have to scrape for money that big league teams routinely spend. For the Phillies, $15 million is the approximate price of infielder Jean Segura’s services for one year.
Nevertheless, this is the unfortunate reality for communities that host professional sports organizations. The Fightin Phils are incredibly important to our area as an economic force and source of local pride and enhanced quality of life. And through its philanthropic work, the team’s impact in the community extends far beyond baseball. With so much at stake, government leaders are obligated to try to make this work.
Reading, a city still working to emerge from fiscal distress, can’t fund the required improvements on its own. But efforts on the state level are showing some promise.
We are particularly pleased that members of the Berks
County legislative delegation — Democrats and Republicans; urban, suburban and rural — have agreed to push for financial help from Harrisburg to get this done. We encourage lawmakers beyond Berks to join the effort. After all, the Fightins attract fans from far and wide — from Philadelphia’s suburbs to the anthracite region and beyond. We urge county government and other community leaders to seek ways to contribute to this effort as well. And we do expect the team itself to cover at least some of the costs.
Even with the recent news, it’s unthinkable that Reading could lose its Phillies affiliate. Yes, we’re talking about sports here, but it is not a trivial matter. It’s an issue that strikes at the core of our community’s identity. The city has enjoyed an association with organized baseball since the early years of the 20th century. The stadium where the
Fightins play has been hosting minor league ball since 1951.
Reading has endured so many losses in recent decades. Yet the Reading Phillies have endured, offering a fun, family-oriented activity with an appeal that extends beyond sports fans. A trip to the ballpark here is a celebration of this community’s heritage. It’s something that needs
to be preserved.
We’re thankful to see strong signs that local leaders understand all this. They must communicate it to the Wolf administration and to their colleagues from other parts of the state and see to it that Baseballtown has a major league-affiliated baseball team for many years to come.