By Chris Muldrow
Fredericksburg.Today
Photos by Zhancheng Wu, Fredericksburg Nationals
Senator Mark Warner visited the Fredericksburg Nationals stadium today to talk about his efforts to get a relief plan for minor league baseball.
The relief plan, if passed, would use $550 million of unspent Covid 19 relief money to provide up to $10 million grants per team for minor league baseball teams that weren’t able to play in 2020.
“Minor league teams are an employer and an economic engine for their regions,” Warner explained.
Warner, meeting with team owners Seth Silber and Lani Weiss and members of the Fredericksburg business community, said that he was surprised that the Shuttered Venues Relief that provided money for music venues and other entertainment businesses didn’t take into account minor league teams.
The plan would use teams’ 2019 revenues to determine how much each team was eligible for. The Fredericksburg Nationals would use revenue numbers when they were located in Woodbridge.
Warner explained that the relief bill would likely be attached to bipartisan infrastructure improvement efforts currently being discussed in the Senate.
