Downtown businesses eager for Cardinals baseball to return

At the outset of March, there was reason to be concerned that the 2022 MLB season would not be played—at least, not in its entirety. Negotiations between franchise owners and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) were stalled. Spring training games that would normally be underway in Florida and Arizona were scratched, as were the season’s initial series. Talks had dragged on for over three months to no avail. Neither side seemed especially flexible, and the fact that a deal was eventually brokered can only be chalked up to a spate of painstakingly incremental concessions. Enough hairs had finally been split.

As a result, Opening Day for the Cardinals will take place on April 7, rather than the last Thursday in March as it would in a regular year.

To many observers, the lockout seemed easy to understand: the league’s millionaire players were pitted against its billionaire owners. At issue was the threshold of a league-wide luxury tax that would be imposed to keep exorbitant payrolls in check, ostensibly enriching those in the corporate suites at the expense of those on the field. Given that both parties agreed that the tax should kick in somewhere in the $200–260 million range per team, however, it’s tough to garner much in the way of sympathy for either camp.

Because this player-versus-owner angle has become such a critical feature of reporting on the lockout, it’s easy to overlook the thousands of regular people whose livelihoods hinge on having an MLB season every summer. There are all of the parking attendants, buskers, and artisans vending their wares on the street; there are security guards and souvenir shop owners; and there is a legion of people who grease the wheels of the city’s world-renowned hospitality sector. Indeed, there is an entire baseball-adjacent economy that relies on the patronage of fans.

Although diehard fans balk at the thought of something so material and reductive, economists are fairly good at ballparking the total economic impact of the team. “For the Cardinals, that’s $300 million,” says Tom Chulick, president and CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber. “Those dollars flow through the economy to vendors and concessions and those people that support the activities in and around the stadium.”

A sold-out game at Busch Stadium brings over 45,000 people downtown according to the stadium’s seating capacity. These people come to cheer on their hometown Redbirds, but they also come to eat, to drink, to socialize. They show up long before the first inning to eat spareribs on rooftops and sip pitchers on patios. And they stay long after the ninth to enjoy the blues in neighborhood bars. Downtown comes alive on game day, and the lockout had the potential to flatten the broader economic community.

“Our business upticks a lot for home games. There’s free parking on 8th Street, so a lot of guests come down to the brewery, park for free, and grab a pint for the walk to the ballpark,” says Chris Trunk, hospitality director at 4 Hands Brewing Company. “We were very disappointed that there was a possibility of a lockout, not only for us but for all the other downtown local companies. We all love the revenue it brings.”

Without assurances that a season would be played, it has been difficult for those like Trunk to make consistent operational decisions.

“We staff up for home games because the surge of guests prior to the game is such a fun time to be at the brewery,” Trunk says. “I put off hiring because of the first two weeks being canceled. Once the season was back on, I needed to rush to get a couple more bartenders hired so that we are ready for the home games. That was the major operating confusion I experienced. However, we are now ready and incredibly excited for the upcoming season.”

For establishments even closer to Busch, a full lockout wouldn’t have meant a marginal decrease in business, but rather a decimation. Salt + Smoke, a barbecue joint on Broadway and Clark that would need thicker windows if men could hit 600-foot home runs, is totally transformed when the team is in town. “This season, with the stadium at full capacity, with Pujols resigning for a final season, with it being Waino and Yadi’s last year, we’re expecting things to be very crazy,” says manager Rachel Raspberry. “On days without baseball, we’ll get a few parties of eight or 10, or maybe even 15. On Opening Day, we’ll get a line outside before we even open. Our entire lobby is going to be full. We have to staff up at least three times as much, if not more, to prepare for that level of business.”

In a normal year, the Cardinals would be playing baseball this weekend. And while many St. Louisans undoubtedly regret the delay, the fact that baseball is back at all is worth celebrating—if not as a fan of the Cardinals, at least as a fan of a thriving downtown.

Samuel Forster is a freelance writer who focuses on politics and current affairs. He has previously written for the KC Pitch and can be followed on Twitter at @ForsterSam.