Vancouver Canadians shut down barbecue area for rest of season as Nat Bailey upgrades ramp up

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The Vancouver Canadians are shutting down the barbecue area located along the first base line at Nat Bailey Stadium for the remainder of their season as part of renovations to the ballpark moving ahead.

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“We’ve tried to give people as much notice as possible. We’re looking at other options for them,” C’s general manager Allan Bailey said. “I know there are fans who have been having events there for years. It’s really unfortunate, but we need to do this.”

The C’s website lists the BBQ area capacity at 400. The C’s are a Toronto Blue Jays farm club and part of the six-team high-A Northwest League. They have 27 home games remaining in the regular season, with the last ones coming as part of a six-game set on Sept. 3-8 against the Eugene Emeralds. 

Historically, Vancouver’s best crowds have come in the final few weeks of the season. Overall capacity at Nat Bailey is 6,413.

The renovations are tied to Major League Baseball revamping the minors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking to cut costs, they dropped 43 farm clubs from the system. Looking to enhance player development, they added facility standards upgrades to affiliation agreements.

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The BBQ area at the Nat will be replaced by a building that will have a new C’s clubhouse, along with covered batting cages, changing rooms, and other amenities, according to Bailey. A new weight room will go where the visiting clubhouse currently sits on the first base side.

“It will all be state of the art,” Bailey said.

There will be a BBQ area on top of the new building but Bailey couldn’t say when it might be complete and ready for fans.

Work has begun, Bailey said, on the third base side to upgrade that clubhouse. That has traditionally been the C’s clubhouse side; they are in a temporary clubhouse in the adjacent parking lot for this season.

The C’s have been a Blue Jays’ farm team since 2011. They signed this latest 10-year affiliation agreement in February 2021.

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On March 5, Postmedia’s Dan Fumano wrote about how a Feb. 2 memo from Vancouver park board general manger Steve Jackson to the city’s elected park commissioners that detailed cost of the project at $20 million. It also stated that construction is expected to finish by winter 2025.

Baseball America has written about how stadium upgrades mandate a locker room for women and also food preparation and dining areas for both teams in a stadium.

The city owns the 73-year-old stadium. Who is going to pay the majority of the renovation bill hasn’t been disclosed as of yet. Emails about the subject to the park board and to Diamond Baseball Holdings, the New York company that bought the C’s from Vancouver businessmen Jake Kerr and Jeff Mooney in April 2023, haven’t been returned.

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Jackson’s memo stated that Diamond Baseball Holdings has agreed, as part of its lease with the city, to “undertake and complete, at their sole cost and expense, the most urgent (life and safety) down to the least urgent repair and maintenance items.”

The C’s were the 16th minor league club that Diamond Baseball Holding purchased at the time. Their website now lists them as owners of 35 minor league clubs.

Responding to Postmedia back in March, a Diamond Baseball Holdings representative wrote: “We are not commenting on the situation at this time, but we’ll be sure to reach out if/when there are details to share in the future.”

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SEwen@postmedia.com

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