Jupiter, Palm Beach To Go Fanless Three Days A Week

Image credit: Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium (Courtesy of Andrew Miller)

In 2002, the Charleston RiverDogs came up with the idea of “Nobody Night.” To set an unbreakable record for the smallest attendance at a minor league baseball game, the RiverDogs locked everyone out of the ballpark (except for the teams, umpires and other essential gameday staff) and didn’t let anyone in until the game became official in the bottom of the fifth inning.

This year, the Jupiter Hammerheads and Palm Beach Cardinals will effectively be hosting three Nobody Nights a week.

The two Low-A Southeast teams share Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Fla., which means that there is baseball at the ballpark every week from Opening Day until the end of the season. But this year, faced with coronavirus restrictions and the financial impact of a lost 2020 season, the teams will allow in ticket-buying fans only on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday will be limited to scouts, media, friends and family of the players, coaches and staff. No tickets will be sold for those games.

For the games with fans, the park will be operating at 21% of capacity, just like it did during spring training—with groups of fans socially distanced from each other. Attendance was capped at just above 1,400 fans per game during spring training.

“When we submitted our re-opening plan we took a conservative approach,” Jupiter Hammerheads general manager Jamie Toole said. “We’re carrying that 21% model into the minor league season.

“It’s still a significant amount of staff (to run a game). This year is so unique. Our plan is maintainable. After losing last season, we want to make sure it’s a comfortable situation.”

 

Toole said that by reducing the number of games that the team will host fans, it will ensure that the staff can keep the park clean and ready for the three games a week where fans will be allowed to attend.

It also will reduce the wear and tear on the staff that hosts games every week—because two teams share the facility, there are 120 games scheduled for Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium this year. Fans will be allowed in for 60 of those 120 dates.

There’s also a cost component to this decision. By not opening the gates for fans, Palm Beach and Jupiter can staff at a significantly smaller level for their least attended games. Jupiter averaged 1,045 in announced attendance per game while Palm Beach drew an announced 973 fans per game in 2019. But the two teams averaged only 370 fans per game on Sundays and 518 fans per game on Tuesdays. Mondays, which are now an off day every week, drew 352 fans per game. The teams drew well over 1,000 fans per night in announced attendance on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays.

The decision does mean that the players will be playing in front of largely empty stadiums for half their home games.

“It’s not ideal,” Toole said. “The Cardinals and Marlins were great about it. In a traditional year there may have been more pushback, but with two teams sharing the ballpark, they were great about it.”

Like everyone else around the minors, much of the season will be wait and see when it comes to Covid-19 restrictions. There is a chance that the capacity limits or distancing requirements for the stadium in Jupiter may be lessened as the season goes along. But the fanless games are expected to be part of the entire 2021 schedule.

“Hopefully it’s a one-year thing,” Toole said. “While we don’t sell out every Sunday or Tuesday, we do have groups on those days. I think in 2022 we will open some of those dates.”