The Minor League Baseball team, the Myrtle Beach Pelican’s contract is up for renegotiation.
The original contract was signed in 1998 and expired in 2018, according to previous reporting . Each year since, officials have signed a one year extension of the original deal.
Horry County spokeswoman Mikayla Moskov texted Tuesday evening that she did not have anything further to say about the negotiations.
Executives at the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and Major League Baseball have not returned The Sun News’ repeated requests for comment as of Wednesday morning.
With MLB’s required renovations and a decades-long relationship between the two entities, community members have written on social media pages that they believe a lot is at stake.
Here are five interesting things we learned about the team and the ongoing deal from the City of Myrtle Beach.
1. The city loses money every year on the Pelicans
Currently, the City of Myrtle Beach owns 70% of the baseball stadium, while Horry County owns the remaining 30%.
City spokeswoman Meredith Denari wrote in an email Myrtle Beach loses $90,000 annually operating the minor league stadium each year based on the 1998 contract with the Pelicans.
2. The rent doesn’t cover operating costs
The Pelicans currently pay $150,000 annually in rent, Denari wrote in an email.
The city spends about $240,000 maintaining TicketReturn.Com Field, at 1251 21st Ave. N., in downtown Myrtle Beach, she said to The Sun News via email.
That $90,000 loss annually matches the amount Denari said the city loses yearly.
3. Updates are needed to make the deal work
The Minor League Baseball Association has indicated that renovations are needed for TicketReturn.Com Field to stay within their standards.
“The MLB has handed down these standards that have a significant impact on the cities that help run the stadiums with no financial backing to help the team and the parties involved to actually make it happen,” Denari said.
The renovations at bare minimum would cost $15 million and at maximum, if everything requested and listed by Major League Baseball was done, it could be as much as $80 million, according to the city.
“However, it’s important to note that these new stadium standards are imposed by Major League Baseball,” she said via email. “This is not something the city, Horry County or the Pelicans have asked for. The new standards are also focused on player development, not the fan experience.”
A field replacement costing more than $1.5 million will also be needed in five years, according to Denari. She said she had no item-by-item cost sheet for the potential renovations.
4. What’s the status of the negotiations?
As fans, tourists and community members speculate, no official contract has been signed.
“The city wants the Pelicans to stay in Myrtle Beach and we are in active negotiations to make that happen in a way that’s beneficial to all parties involved,” Denari wrote via email to The Sun News.
According to her email, the negotiations between government officials and the team were ongoing as of Wednesday afternoon.
“No official date, but very, very soon,” she said in response to if there’s a deadline for when the city needs to make their decision by. “If there’s going to be a project, it needs to begin because there would be a deadline of April 2025 for the stadium to be playable.”
5. Is Myrtle Beach building a new stadium?
The simple answer to that question is not necessarily.
The potential stadium is not included in Myrtle Beach’s published downtown revitalization plan, Denari said.
“A potential oceanfront stadium was included in documents sent to the state as a possible option for the Burroughs & Chapin Pavilion site,” she said. “That proposal has not progressed with the parties involved.”
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