With Opening Day for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders fast approaching, the Lackawanna County commissioners raved about the new PNC Field and plans for the baseball season at their meeting Wednesday.
They said fans will love the new $43.3 million stadium and its amenities, though plenty of tickets remain for the return of minor league baseball to the region on April 4.
Commissioner Jim Wan-sacz said club- and suite-level seats are sold out for the next three years, but conventional seating is still available.
"There's probably about another 2,000 tickets available for opening day," Mr. Wansacz said. The stadium seats 10,000.
The availability of tickets a week before Opening Day contrasts with the most recent return of minor league baseball to the region, the 1989 home debut of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons. That debut was sold out weeks in advance, though that one ended almost four decades of having no minor league team here while the RailRiders return after only a year away.
"I remember the day it opened. I couldn't get a ticket," Commissioner Corey O'Brien said of the old stadium. "I watched it on television."
Contacted after the meeting, Rob Crain, the RailRiders president and general manager, said he's confident of a sellout - so much so that he posted a humourous YouTube video guaranteeing 60-degree weather for the opener against the Pawtucket Red Sox. If the temperature doesn't reach 60 degrees, ticketholders to the first game will get their choice of a free ticket to any other home game between Sunday and Thursday the rest of season except for Thursday, July 4, he said.
In other business, the commissioners:
- Appointed Commissioner Patrick O'Malley to the Lackawanna-Susquehanna Behavioral Health/Intellectual Disabilities/Early Intervention Program Advisory Board.
- Approved financing by the Scranton-Lackawanna Health and Welfare Authority, which is backing a $2.5 million project to build a new headquarters for the Community Life Support Inc. ambulance company.
- Proclaimed Wednesday "Jack Carling Day" to honor Jack Carling, 81, who has worked for county, state and federal agencies for 50 years.
- Rehired Simplex Grinnell to maintain fire alarms, closed-circuit television, access control and sprinkler systems at the county administration building and the 911 center for a total cost of $63,443. The cost is about $14,000 less than the past year with more services included, deputy director of purchasing David Pettinato said.
Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@ timesshamrock.com