Hug Not Happy With Slammers Stadium Lease

JOLIET, IL - On Tuesday night, the Joliet Slammers ended their season by winning the Frontier League Championship on the road in Game 5 against the Washington Wild Things. Back in Joliet, the Joliet City Council approved a new five-year lease agreement with the club to allow the Joliet Slammers to rent the city-owned Joliet Route 66 Stadium near the historic Union Station. But this five-year agreement does not mean the Slammers will be playing here in 2022, however.

The new contract includes provisions that allow the city of Joliet to give the Joliet Slammers the boot if the city hooks up with a minor league franchise that is affiliated with Major League Baseball. The Slammers are an independent team.

Under the old lease, the Slammers were paying the city of Joliet $25,000 to lease the downtown stadium. The new deal requires the Slammers to pay the city $75,000 annually. The five-year deal had the council's support except for Larry Hug, who voted against it in a 7-1 vote.

"We have a lease that ... we were informed ... in executive session is the worst lease in the league," Hug declared before making his vote. "Doesn't come close to any of the other teams. There's some teams that are at $250,000 to $350,000 in guaranteed revenue.

"We stand to continue to lose. The numbers were down this year over last year. We stand to continue to lose over $200,000 a year, approaching $300,000, $400,000, depending how bad the repairs are each year. We need more guaranteed revenue as a city to move this forward. I'm not real happy ... this is not a healthy lease for the city. I vote no."

The old lease agreement didn't address the topic of the city pursuing a minor league team affiliated with professional baseball. Tuesday's contract, passed by the council, states that "in the event the city secures affiliated team to play at the stadium, the city may unilaterally terminate this agreement with a minimum of one-year notice."

In the past, Slammers representatives and city officials only met once a year, in November. Now, the meetings will be monthly "to discuss any other matters that pertain to the use and or lease of the stadium."

The current contract did not address issues such as financial transparency on the club's part as well as issues of whether fans had a great experience.

Last month, one fan who attended a Slammers game this past summer as part of a corporate outing event was so disappointed with his experience that he showed up at a city council meeting to tell the council about his experience. In particular, he singled out the food for being bad.

The new multi-year contract with the Slammers states the "Team shall guarantee to the city, its fans and invitees, first class treatment with respect to the cleanliness of the operation and quality of the product, the efficiency and tastiness of the concession services and such friendliness befitting of a minor league professional team venue."

But complaints about the stadium's food were only part of the team's troubles this past season.

The Joliet Slammers struggled mightily in the area of marketing and promotions.

Although the team had a championship year on the field, attendance was down at least 12 percent compared to last season, and that's in spite of the fact that the city spent more than $2 million for major stadium upgrades last off season including installation of expensive FieldTurf.

PATCH: Slammers Attendance Way Down, Despite Wins

On Monday, Joliet Patch published a story from Baseball Digest showing that the Joliet Slammers ranked 27th out of 43 independent baseball franchises for 2018 season attendance. The Slammers played Game 3 and Game 4 of their league championship at Route 66 stadium last Friday and Saturday nights, drawing 1,959 Friday night for fireworks and 2,069 for pet day.

Monday's article drew a flood of reactions from readers of the Joliet Patch on social media. Here's a small sampling of that reaction:

• Concessions are an issue. Terrible choices of adult beverages and the food consist of frozen pizza slice or stale nachos. You need to elevate the concessions like you did the field.
• The game Friday was entertaining, however we were very disappointed in the stadium. Only 2 concession stands were open, the servers were all very slow, 3/4s of the food was not available and over cooked. To top it all off they only took cash, no cards. I hope they plan for post season better next year. If there is a next year.
• We were also at the game Friday night. You had to wait in line for 2 innings to get food and drinks. We were going to go back Saturday but because of that we did not go. You figure after so many years in the league that they would figure it out. Give the fans a good experience and they might just come back.
• There’s NOTHING around Joliet to ADVERTISE for them. Around their stadium is the only signs acknowledging they’re there. Billboards around town, players meet n greet in stores/mall around town...it’s all about ADVERTISING YOUR BRAND.
• Have to connect with an actual major league team.
• Need more advertising, not just at beginning of season

Image via John Ferak/Joliet Patch Editor