Turtle Creek Lands Naming Rights For Ballpark; Pit Spitters, GT Band Eye More Community Projects

The Traverse City Pit Spitters and Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians have signed a major long-term contract that will see the Chums Corner ballpark renamed Turtle Creek Stadium, ending a year-long search for a park title sponsor. The two organizations announced the partnership at a Tuesday press conference, during which both groups also spoke to The Ticker about plans to venture into additional community projects in 2020.

Pit Spitters CEO Joe Chamberlin declined to discuss the financial terms of the deal, which will see Turtle Creek Stadium signage installed throughout the ballpark and renovations made to offer new “engagement opportunities” that showcase Grand Traverse Resort & Casinos to stadium visitors. “(The deal) is confidential, but I can say two things: It’s long-lasting and long-term,” Chamberlin says. “We are set up to be in business together for a long time to come.” Minor-league stadium naming rights often run between $50,000 to $300,000 annually, according to USA Today, while some major-league stadiums charge as much as $20 million annually to corporate title sponsors.

Tribal Chairman Thurlow "Sam" McClellan calls the partnership a “proud and exciting moment” for the GT Band, noting that baseball has produced numerous prominent Native American players, including Louis Sockalexis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jim Thorpe, and Charles Albert “Chief” Bender. McClellan adds that landing naming rights for the ballpark allows the GT Band to become more prominent in the community, signaling the Tribe’s commitment to and investment in the region. “We’ve tried to do our best to work within the community,” he says. “We believe in (being) partners and working together.”

Grand Traverse Resort & Casinos CEO Michael Schrader says his organization and the Pit Spitters are still hammering out a litany of possible partnership opportunities beyond stadium naming rights. Those include mutual discounts for employees of both groups, comped tickets for giveaways, joint public promotions, cross- social media advertising, and hotel room-and-ballpark ticket packages for visitors. While Grand Traverse Resort & Casinos already invests heavily in advertising and marketing, Schrader believes having Turtle Creek prominently featured across the ballpark will allow the company to reach a new audience.

“We know there are a lot of visitors and tourists here during the summer, and many of them may not know who we are,” he says. “If they’re here for the weekend and go to the ballpark, this gives us an avenue to reach that audience.” Schrader acknowledges that in the past, Grand Traverse Resort & Casinos had a reputation for being “standoffish” from the local community, with each of its properties located on the outskirts of town and a business model focused almost exclusively on outside guests. “No more,” he says firmly. “I got here in July, and we have been focusing on revamping our strategic plan. We are trying to be more locally involved. We need to show we are a partner to Traverse City, as much as Traverse City is a partner to us.”

McClellan echoes those remarks, saying that as the GT Band heads into its fortieth anniversary in 2020, the Tribe is committed to expanding its local presence in conjunction with that milestone. “We have other projects in the making right now (similar to the Pit Spitters deal) that we’ll hopefully be able to talk about soon,” he says. The GT Band recently partnered with the Traverse City Arts Commission to install a major Native American-themed mural in the Clinch Park tunnel, has invested in economic development initiatives like the Grand Traverse Town Center in Acme (home to Meijer) and Bay Shore Steel Works, and opened an apartment complex on Herkner Road this fall. The GT Band is still eyeing plans to overhaul its Leelanau casino in the future, and McClellan hints tribal leaders are also exploring launching a community fiber-optic network.

“We want to change the idea that people have of us,” McClellan says. “We want to put our mark on the community. My motto for this upcoming year is, ‘Working together.’ This partnership is a step in the right direction.”

The Traverse City Pit Spitters have similar aspirations to expand their community presence, according to Chamberlin. Part of that effort will involve diversifying the type of events that are held at the ballpark – and thus the stadium’s attendee base. In October, the Pit Spitters and Michigan Brewers Guild announced they would hold the first-ever Michigan Brewers Guild Spring Beer Festival at the ballpark on May 16. More events are also on the horizon. “The underlying concept is this ballpark has so much potential,” says Chamberlin. “We are open to everything. I can say definitively we are going to have a concert at this ballpark – I’d love for that to be in 2020. No one else has the capacity we do in this type of outdoor venue.”

The park also hopes to host more high school and college baseball games, as well as focus on more youth initiatives. McClellan says the Tribe is particularly interested in those types of projects, with leaders looking to expand healthy outlets and opportunities for Native American youth to participate in the community.

During the Pit Spitters’ first full off-season, Chamberlin says his organization will focus this winter on increasing group sales and lining up company events. At the Fifth Third Ballpark in Grand Rapids, where Chamberlin is also CEO, businesses like Spectrum Health and Amway often rent out the ballpark for employees or to host corporate picnics at the stadium. Chamberlin acknowledges he and his team stepped into a challenging situation when taking over the stadium in 2018 from the Traverse City Beach Bums, which had faced declining attendance and revenues for years. Some sponsors were initially wary of coming on board. “We knew what we were inheriting, and that we were going to need to bring the fun back to baseball,” Chamberlin says.

Despite 2019 getting off to a slow start – with no naming sponsor in place and slow ticket sales at the outset – the inaugural Pit Spitters team went on a winning tear, eventually claiming the Northwoods League championship and earning league accolades including organization, executive, field manager, league manager, and pitcher of the year. Attendance soared accordingly at the end of the season. With that momentum behind them, and a new major sponsor in place, Chamberlin says he is confident in the long-term viability of the Pit Spitters as an organization.

“We feel really good about where we are right now,” he says.