What should Norwich do with Dodd Stadium? Why the city should update it, and who opposes it
As baseball is a seasonal game, discussion of what to do with the city-owned Dodd Stadium also emerges during budget season.
Glenn Carberry, retired lawyer and the man who pushed for Norwich to get into baseball, presented a white paper on the 30th season of baseball in Norwich to the City Council on Monday.
Carberry’s presentation included how Dodd Stadium benefits the community, trends in minor league baseball, and what options the city has for the future.
Dodd Stadium has space for 6,500 fans, 18 skyboxes, concessions and parking for those fans, and practice, workout and locker rooms for players, the white paper states.
Over 250 major league players have played at least one game at Dodd. There has been an attendance of more than 4.1 million people over the years, including over 2 million from Norwich. The stadium also employs eight people full time with 30 players and coaches on the team and 80 game day jobs.
The stadium is also an affordable source of entertainment for Norwich families, alongside the parks and the Otis Library.
Norwich’s opportunity
MLB is considering two expansion teams for the 2026 or 2027 season, which is expected to result in ten new minor league teams, which opens the possibility of Norwich and other cities that lost their minor league clubs to regain them.
Norwich can also be considered “a greener pasture” for a moving team. There are eight Eastern U.S. minor league teams that are currently bellow the 200,000 seasonal attendance target. These teams could decide to move later. The Defenders, the last full season affiliated minor league team at the stadium, averaged 202,554 attendance and over 3,000 fans per game in the 08-09 season, despite the team moving.
More: Norwich Sea Unicorns capture Futures League championship for first time
The white paper stated Dodd is in a good position to receive a team through changing minor league stadium standards, which Dodd already meets. A consultant could be retained and help with meeting the rest of the standards.
“From my review, there appears to be a dozen cities in the eastern U.S. that play in stadiums that are smaller and in worse shape than ours,” Carberry said.
The minor leagues are big money these days, with companies buying naming rights to stadiums and one company, Diamond Baseball Holdings, owns 33 out of 120 of the minor league clubs.
What’s the cost to the city?
The stadium was built on time and on budget for $9.8 million in April 1995 from a variety of sources, including $6 million from the state.
“That’s not something you see a lot these days,” Carberry said.
The COVID-19 pandemic stopped all games from being played, and minor league baseball eliminated 42 teams, and the Connecticut Tigers became the Norwich Sea Unicorns in a summer collegiate league. Also since the pandemic, it has become hard to run the stadium without an operating deficit. The deficit since 2020 is expected to total $310,290 at the end of this fiscal year, though $100,000 was transferred from the general fund to reduce the deficit, and a deficit of $210,290 would be on the books.
The city has paid $2.38 million in construction costs and capital costs over the years. Combined with the deficit, the city has paid $89,688 per year, which Carberry said “it’s been a remarkable success” at that cost. While having other “quality of life” resources are important, the operating budgets of Otis Library and the senior center are $5.921 million and $3.8 million respectively from FY 2021 to 2025.
Options for the future
Carberry presented several recommendations for the stadium's future. Listed in order of priority:
Remain open and attract an affiliated franchise.
Understand college league can succeed, and work with the Sea Unicorns to raise their attendance from 1600 to 3000, comparable to other college teams.
Determine needed repairs to meet MLB standards, and find grant funding to pay for it.
Sell naming rights or other sponsorship packages for the stadium.
Utilize an existing organization or create a new task force to find more non-baseball events for the stadium.
“To precipitously close the door to… any baseball in Norwich by withdrawing all financial support now, as suggested by some people, would reflect and unprecedented failure of leadership and vision by the city,” Carberry stated.
Former city councilor opposed
Ahead of Carberry’s presentation, Former City Councilmember Sam Browning distributed a letter highlighting his concerns about the city’s continued support of Dodd Stadium as is. His letter highlighted how the stadium has always had money problems, even when it hosted the Navigators, a New York Yankees affiliate.
Browning’s letter also highlights needed repairs to the stadium to keep up with contemporary minor league standards, the inability to host major non-baseball entertainment events, and that the Norwich Baseball Stadium Authority hasn’t met in four years, since the city government has taken on the authority of running the stadium itself.
Browning’s letter urged the city council to sell the property. If the city wants to keep the stadium and attract another minor league team, they should hire professionals to determine which repairs are needed.
Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom acknowledged the city needs more sources of tax revenue, as the sewer plant and school building projects are large expenses for the city. Nystrom also said the ownership of both the Connecticut Tigers and now the Norwich Sea Unicorns have been good community partners for the city.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: City Council hears presentation on Dodd Stadium and what to do with it
