As Major League Baseball entered the 2021 season’s third month, the easing of the pandemic is prompting state and local governments to allow increased ballpark attendance – a welcomed development for Delaware North Sportservice and its 11 MLB ballpark operations.
Delaware North is working to reopen more concessions to provide additional food and beverage options for the increased number of fans expected to attend games as capacities reach 100%. Associate recruitment efforts, supported by the corporate human resources Talent team, have stepped up with job fairs seeking to supplement the thousands of associates who are now back at the ballparks.
In St. Louis, where the Cardinals will move from 64% to full capacity at Busch Stadium on June 14, one job fair attracted dozens of applicants, including a retired construction worker who helped build Busch Stadium and several family members of longtime Delaware North associates. You can see the story here.
Six of the ballparks at which Delaware North operates are now allowed full capacities, including Truist Park (Atlanta Braves), Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles), Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati Reds), Progressive Field (Cleveland Indians), Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers) and Globe Life Field, where the Texas Rangers have been at full capacity since Opening Day.
Here is the status of Delaware North’s other ballpark operations:
Chicago has moved up its full reopening date to coincide with Illinois’ planned target of June 11, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced last week, allowing the Chicago White Sox to have full capacity at Guaranteed Rate Field beginning June 25.
The Minnesota Twins were at 60% capacity at Target Field in May, will now be at 80% capacity through June and will move to full capacity for the series against the White Sox beginning July 5.
The San Diego Padres, currently allowed 33 percent capacity at Petco Park, will move to full capacity on June 17 after California reopens fully on June 15. The team will celebrate the occasion as “San Diego’s Opening Day” with special promotions and honors for frontline heroes.
The Milwaukee Brewers will celebrate “Re-Opening Day 2021” on June 25 by moving from 50% to full capacity at American Family Field. Since Opening Day is traditionally an afternoon start, the Brewers have moved the start time of the June 25 game against the Colorado Rockies to 3:10 p.m. CT.