The Greenville Drive (High-A; Sally League) unveiled around $8 million in Fluor Field upgrades, including a million-dollar revamp to the ballpark’s lighting system and around $7 million in clubhouse enhancements.
The Fluor Field upgrades served two purposes. The most obvious one was for the Drive to meet MiLB’s new facility standards: the new LED lighting exceed the baseline MiLB specs, for example, and meet MLB standards. “The Greenville Drive and Fluor Field continually look for ways to deliver the best experience possible for our fans,” said Greenville Drive General Manager Eric Jarinko via press release. “These new lights meet the same standards as all 30 Major League Baseball stadium standards and go above and beyond what’s required of Minor League Baseball parks.”
The clubhouse improvements include a large (6,000 square feet) weight room, expanded clubhouses that includes new spaces for coaches, a women’s dressing area, a meal-prep area and a new video conference room complete with new tech provided by parent Boston Red Sox. Most of these upgrades were mandated by the new MiLB facility standards.
The other purpose is a little more speculative: according to Jarinko, the new lighting system and other changes will allow the team to hold more events at the ballpark. From the Greenville News:
Beyond baseball, the new lights give life to more programming opportunities outside of sports. Events can include expanding beyond euphoria, corporate parties, Holiday Kringle and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
“We’re scratching the surface while we learn the capability of this system. Time will tell, but there’s so many more possibilities,” Jarinko said.
These lighting upgrades are anticipatory of bringing more opportunities to host more public and private events and creating increased revenue for stadium operations at Fluor Field. It also combines with a projection that expects to see more lighting downtown for public safety and at night for the downtown culture and lifestyle in Greenville.
The upgrades were paid by the team, with the city contributing to the funds for the lighting system.