Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce to give $100,000 for IronPigs stadium renovations; Pigs to make announcement Friday
The Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce will kick in $100,000 to the IronPigs for stadium renovations required by Major League Baseball, CEO Tony Iannelli announced.
The move comes around six weeks after Allentown City Council narrowly denied the IronPigs funding toward renovations the team needs to keep its affiliation with the MLB.
It also comes ahead of a joint announcement expected Friday from the team, Lehigh and Northampton counties on the status of stadium renovations. Details have not been announced.
Iannelli said the chamber’s decision was not directly prompted by the city’s denial. Rather, the chamber’s board of directors, who voted unanimously to grant the money, felt it was their duty to help the IronPigs, he said.
“As a chamber, our mission is to improve quality of life,” Iannelli said. “[The IronPigs] do that to a huge degree.”
“We’re not judging any municipality, we understand the needs of the public sectors are great, so we’re not judging that; it had little, if anything, to [do with] our decision,” he said.
The Chamber of Commerce will pull $100,000 from its $2.9 million in cash reserves to make the contribution, Iannelli said.
Allentown City Council members who voted against the $1.5 million American Rescue Plan allocation for the team said they felt it was the county’s responsibility to fund the improvements. Lehigh County owns Coca-Cola Park.
The IronPigs must make around $9.2 million in improvements to the park by April 2023 to continue the team’s affiliation with Major League Baseball and the Philadelphia Phillies. Those renovations include larger clubhouses, coaches’ offices, training rooms, weight rooms, kitchen and storage areas for both teams and a women’s locker room.
The IronPigs have so far raised just over $8 million toward that goal.
Pennsylvania has committed $2 million, Lehigh County up to $4.5 million and Northampton County $200,000 toward stadium improvements. The IronPigs have also committed $1.5 million.
Northampton County also put $100,000 toward the team in its 2023 budget, which is half of what the team requested. Some county commissioners said that Allentown denying the team funding gave them pause.
IronPigs General Manager Kurt Landes and co-owner Joe Finley repeatedly warned that the team could be forced to relocate if it cannot raise enough money for the renovations.
But in late October, the IronPigs and Lehigh County announced their commitment to keep the team in Allentown. The team signed a lease extension to play at Coca-Cola Park, which is owned by the county, through the 2052 season.