“We added corporate suites down the right field line. Last year, they spent $200,000 on stadium renovations and improvements. The Chili Peppers operate on a roughly $500,000 annual budget, and Martin said they’re spending $140,000 this year on fan entertainment alone. Martin said they also wanted to have a variety of ballpark food ranging from the basic burger and hot dog to more decadent options like bacon cheeseburgers and barbecue nachos. The $10 ticket prices (or $16 for an “all-you-can-eat” option) were a starting point. “(The question) was, ‘How do we entertain fans from the moment they sit down in the stadium?’” Martin said. With higher confidence levels that they won’t face delays or cancellations, Martin said they’ve spent the off-season devising ways to go all-in on fan experience and entertainment. Last season, the team hosted a beach night and players wore grass skirts during the game. “It feels like this is the first normal year,” Martin said. Now, three years since the Chili Peppers’ inception, the 2022 CPL season is around the corner and the Chili Peppers’ opening day is set for May 26. The Chili Peppers ended the year 7-34, and Martin said they averaged around 900 fans per game at home. The Chili Peppers won their first game in front of a sell-out crowd, and the rest of the 2021 season came and went with only a few COVID-19 related road game cancellations. You’d never expect a Monday to sell out, but that stadium was absolutely slammed. People are here!’ It’s one of those surreal moments,” Martin said. I turned to our Director of Operations Austin Sizemore. The Chili Peppers played their first-ever game on a Monday night, not an enviable night of the week for sports events. “Of course, opening night got moved back because of rain,” Martin said, laughing. The CPL’s 2021 season was eventually given the green light, but the Chili Peppers hit one final speed bump before they were able to throw out their inaugural pitch: a rain delay on opening night. Through 2020, they were able to play some baseball at the recently-renovated, 1,000-seat Shepherd Stadium in Colonial Heights by hosting tournaments.Ĭhris Martin is a co-founder of the Tri-City Chili Peppers. Not long after the team name Chili Peppers was chosen via fan vote, the pandemic hit, and Martin said the CPL’s season went from postponed to canceled in short order. The plan was to field amateur, collegiate players to play in the amateur summer league starting in the 2020 season. Minor league teams, including the Richmond Flying Squirrels, won’t be affected by the lockout and are expected to play on as usual.īut there’s another local team that’s looking forward to its first pitch of the year, and first normal year in its existence: the Tri-City Chili Peppers of Colonial Heights.Ĭhris Martin and Byron Wurdeman founded the team in 2019, anticipating that they’d play in the Coastal Plain League. With each passing day, the prospect of no Big League games being played in 2022 becomes more of a possibility. In Major League Baseball, players are currently locked out of their clubhouses and Opening Day has already been canceled. ( Photos courtesy of Tri-City Chili Peppers) The Tri-City Chili Peppers play in Colonial Heights.
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