Joliet Slammers give comeback report

The Joliet Slammers are having a comeback season in terms of revenue, although 2021 is still a building year, a team owner said.

Revenue for 2021 could end up being about 70% of normal, majority owner Nick Semaca told the Joliet City Council Stadium Committee on Thursday.

It’s an improvement from the plunge in revenue last year, when the team succeeded in putting baseball on the field and fans in the stands but lost money.

“We’ve been trending well,” Semaca told the committee.

The city, which owns DuPage Medical Group Field, where the Slammers play, agreed in February to make rent 6% of revenue instead of the annual $75,000 standard payment because of the financial setback from the pandemic.

The Slammers reported losing $365,000 in 2020, with an average attendance of 132 people a game under COVID-19 restrictions.

The 6% rent arrangement was applied to 2021 and retroactively to 2020. The Slammers’ rent payment in 2020 was reduced to $44,633.

Semaca said the team has made a $37,500 rent payment for 2021 while estimating what total revenue will be.

“I would guess we’re going to wind up being 70% of normal,” Semaca told the committee.

The meeting was held for the Slammers to provide an update on finances and other aspects of the 2021 season.

While attendance has bounced back from last year, when the Slammers held a four-team tournament played in Joliet to substitute for a canceled Frontier League season, group outings have not come back.

Semaca said group and corporate events are down 90% from a normal season.

“A lot of them are just reticent to sponsor an event,” Semaca said. “They don’t know – if someone gets COVID, are they going to be held liable?”

The Slammers, however, have been able to partner with new a corporate sponsor thanks to a new affiliation with Major League Baseball, said John Wilson, vice president for sales and marketing for the team.

The affiliation provides Slammers players new opportunities to move to minor teams directly affiliated with major league franchises.

The affiliation grew out of the 2020 tournament when many minor league ballplayers came to Joliet to play because seasons were being shut down in the minor leagues.

Five players this season have left the Slammers to play with minor league affiliates of major league teams, he said.

Wilson said attendance has been increasing as the season goes on, and the team ranks fifth in attendance in the Frontier League.

“I think more and more people feel comfortable coming out to games,” Wilson said.