US Senator Mark Robert Warner provides financial aid to minor league baseball franchises

By Yukta Samvedi On June 23, 2021 1:43 PM

(L) US Sen Mark Warner, (R) Aerial photo of the diamond, a baseball studio in Richmond, Virginia.

American businessman and politician Mark Robert Warner serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia is pushing a bipartisan plan to use $550 million in unspent federal emergency aid to help minor league teams in Virginia and other states due to the financial crisis after the pandemic, cancelled their 2020 seasons and shortened this year’s schedule of games.

“In many of these communities, if we don’t see this kind of relief, these teams might go out of existence,” Warner said during a media call on Tuesday.

Minor league franchises such as the Richmond Flying Squirrels had lost 90% of their revenue last year. They are among five Virginia teams in the Minor League Baseball system that lost their seasons last year COVID-19 pandemic, which temporarily ended large public gatherings. Small and medium-sized Virginia communities with teams had also lost their affiliations with major league clubs as part of a painful contraction of baseball’s professional farm system last year. Warner wants to help minor league teams and the communities they serve. The proposed bill also which would include four Virginia teams in the Appalachian League — the Danville Otterbots, the Pulaski River Turtles, the Bristol State Liners and the Bluefield Ridge Runners would give them an opportunity to apply for federal grants of up to $10 million each to replace as much as 45% of the revenues they made in 2019, the year before the pandemic.

“The Richmond Flying Squirrels are extremely grateful to Senator Warner for his leadership role in supporting our ball club and franchises across the commonwealth and country. The help provided by the bill Senator Warner is co-sponsoring will be critical for us in many ways as we hire back employees, continue to ramp up operations and provide family-friendly entertainment, and year-round community impact, our fans and partners are used to seeing”, Flying Squirrels CEO Todd “Parney” Parnell said in a statement on Tuesday.