Airlines, hotels and restaurants are among the industries that have been hit brutally hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jason Freier would like to insert his line of work into that conversation as well.
The CEO of Hardball Capital in Atlanta owns three minor league baseball teams - the Single-A Fort Wayne (Indiana) Tincaps, the Single-A Columbia (South Carolina) Fireflies and the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts. Freier actually co-owns the Lookouts with John Woods, with their 2020 season opener having been previously set for Thursday night at 6:15 against the Jackson Generals at AT&T Field.
Staff file photo / Chattanooga Lookouts co-owner Jason Freier, right, speaks in September 2018 during a news conference announcing the renewed partnership between the Lookouts and the Cincinnati Reds.Professional baseball is on an indefinite hold due to coronavirus concerns, though, leaving Freier looking at lost revenue opportunities daily at three locales.
"It's been tough," Freier said this week. "We are probably, as a minor league baseball team, the type of business most impacted by this. We are location-based, so we are only able to operate when we put large numbers of people into our places, which right now is the worst thing you could possibly do for everyone's health. Second of all, we are seasonal, and we are now seeing days of our season tick away.
"We don't get these days back. Other location-based businesses like a movie theater or a concert hall can reopen in November and can resume normal business, whereas we only get to play games through August and some of September. Once that time is done, we don't get to play again until April."
The Lookouts are coming off a 2019 season in which they were named the Southern League's organization of the year, and Freier said he and Woods have spent roughly $200,000 in recent months on AT&T Field enhancements. Freier added that he has invested $2 million this offseason at Fort Wayne's Parkview Field, which Hardball Capital built in 2009.
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Fans watch the Chattanooga Lookouts host the Montgomery Biscuits on opening night at AT&T Field on April 4, 2019.Those investments will not be recognized or rewarded any time soon.
Predicting when the Lookouts could start their 2020 season is "impossible to handicap," said Freier, who admits Major League Baseball will return to action at least a week before the minor leagues can get going. Earlier this week, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported MLB has considered having all 30 of its teams play games without spectators in the Phoenix area, adding such a scenario could start as early as May but would be more likely in June.
Major League Baseball responded to ESPN's report by stating, "While we have discussed staging games at one location, we have not settled on that option."
Staff file photo / Young fans wait for the start of the Lookouts' home game against the Jackson Generals on July 5, 2019. Lookouts fans of all ages are waiting indefinitely for the start of the 2020 season, with the COVID-19 pandemic keeping professional baseball and other sports on hold.ESPN's report did not mention a potential starting date for minor league teams. Should mid-June be the earliest the Lookouts could play, that would mean beginning with the first half of their 140-game Southern League schedule having already been wiped out.
"The predictions on how this virus will progress are all over the map," Freier said. "There are projections that show the deaths per day nationally being down below 100 before we get into June. If that's the case, there is certainly a chance we could play in July and August and that our season might be able to extend through most of September.
"That is right now what we are planning for. We are expecting to play half of a season - maybe more or maybe less."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.