MANCHESTER, NH – Much-needed repairs will begin next week on the outfield at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, scheduled to be ready in time for the Fisher Cats final two home stands of the season, which begins Aug. 26.
The ownership group for the Fisher Cats, Diamond Baseball Holdings, is fully paying for the field replacement at a cost of $400,000, according to the GM Taylor Fisher. “We are fully committed to the project,” he said.
Fisher wanted to set the record straight after some local news and social media commentary erroneously said that team management approached the city requesting $150,000 – or else the season would be fully cancelled.
“That is incorrect. We were doing the project regardless. We knew we were in for the full project because we had to,” Fisher said.
As outlined in their contract, each year, the Fisher Cats pay $1,065,000 to the city, with around 10% of that going into a capital reserve fund for repairs. The Fisher Cats have to ask the city for permission to use it, as the stadium is owned by the city and the Fisher Cats are tenants.
The outfield will cost around $400,000 to repair, so the entire $100,000 from this year’s capital reserve fund account will be used and the other $300,000 will be split 50/50 between the city and the team if the Board of Alderman approve the funding.
Every year team management meets with the city’s finance and Department of Public Works to show them their plan for what they will be updating or replacing at the stadium, and the city approves the projects, Fisher said.
“It certainly was not planned for, and it certainly wasn’t something that the city has planned for, but we went into this process knowing that we would have to pay to the field, effective immediately,” Fisher said of the field, noting that it was last replaced about 10 years ago. The useful life of an athletic field is typically five to seven years, depending on its usage.
“Even if we were at the maximum of seven years, we’re well past the useful life of the field,” Fisher said.
Of the $1,065,000 given to the city for this season, $800,000 is rent and $167,000 is money to pay off the city bonds for the construction of the stadium. The remaining is paid annually into the Capex fund.
The Fisher Cats handle all maintenance and services at the ballpark.
“We all come to the city if there is a major project that needs to be done. This is that project,” Fisher said.
In an effort to reduce costs the Fisher Cats management has arranged with city Parks and Recreation and Public Works that as the old outfield gets torn up it will be turned into topsoil and fully donated back to the city for use for any projects as needed.
“This will lower the haul out costs, so ideally we will be asking for less than $150,000,” Fisher said.
Unsafe Playing Conditions
The need for the outfield overhaul came about because there was a player safety issue. On July 27 the game against the Hartford Yard Goats was cancelled due to “wet grounds” after it was found that big clumps of outfield grass were coming up whenever anybody walked on it.
The Fisher Cats were notified by Major League Baseball that they would need to replace the field immediately.
Fisher explained that in the past three weeks there has been a “rooting” issue in the outfield, where the roots are not going down into the soil, so the sod/turf was literally flipping over from normal movement in the outfield, which risks major injuries.
As a temporary fix the field maintenance crew has been top-dressing the field, which means dumping sand into the outfield so it weighs down the sod. They have fully top-dressed the field twice in the past two weeks.
“That is the Band-Aid to get us to the project. It does not fix the issue. It is just weighing the sod down to get until Monday,” said Fisher.
The full board will take up the recommendation for the $100,000 and the 50/50 split from the Special Committee on Baseball/Civic Center at their Sept. 2 meeting. Basically, the Fisher Cats are paying for the outfield up front and then are getting partially reimbursed ($150,000 from the city and $100,000 back from the capital reserve.)
Ward 11 Alderman Norm Vincent noted during the recent board meeting several times that the city does not have a choice in acting on the request; they’re contractually obligated just like a landlord needs to fix a tenants apartment when it’s in need of repair.
Andrew Sylvia and Nathan Graziano contributed to this report.