EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been corrected to reflect that Port Angeles received $250,000 in lodging taxes for improvements to Civic Field in 2017 and 2018.
PORT ANGELES — Construction of a new spectator deck is being planned for Civic Field in time for the Lefties’ upcoming second season, team majority owner Matt Acker said Tuesday.
Less than a year after the Lefties opened their first season in Port Angeles, the squad is one of the higher attendance teams in the West Coast League (WCL), Acker told three dozen attendees of the weekly Port Angeles Business Association breakfast meeting during an update on the team’s activities.
The Lefties averaged 1,460 attendance, or tickets sold, for 32 home games in their inaugural season, Acker, a Port Angeles resident, said in a later interview.
That’s fourth overall in average attendance in the WCL, which was topped by the Victoria [B.C.] Harbourcats’ 1,800 average.
The fledgling team, owned by Acker’s Mack Athletics of Lacey, will host the collegiate-level WCL All-Star Game festivities with a home run derby July 16 at Hollywood Beach, and all-star game night at 6:30 p.m. July 17.
Port Angeles received $250,000 in lodging taxes for overall capital improvements to Civic Field in 2017 and 2018 that were received as a result of the Lefties establishing a team in the city, Parks and Recreation Director Corey Delikat said in a later interview.
The city spent $117,500 in lodging tax funds to make improvements to Civic Field before the Lefties began playing there, including replacing the bleachers’ leaky roof and purchasing a home run fence.
The field also is used by the Port Angeles School District, youth baseball and Wilder baseball.
The Lefties’ use of Civic Field generated $11,000 in revenue in 2017 for city maintenance of the field that goes into an account for capital projects for the facility, Delikat said.
It costs the city about $11,000 a year in city funds to maintain the field.
Acker said permitting has been submitted to city officials for a 750-foot deck that would be built along the third-base line on a hillside at Civic Field where couch seating is perched for spectators.
“The architecture and engineering is done, the materials are here, the work is lined up,” he said.
The addition would be funded by Mack Athletics and local businesses.
Acker said he, his wife and their two school-age boys have settled down in Port Angeles, where the house they purchased had six bidders in six hours.
PABA member Kaj Ahlburg’ asked him about bottlenecks for future growth and what PABA members can do to help.
Acker said he’s talked to owners of distilleries, for example, and high-tech companies who want to branch into the North Olympic Peninsula, drawn to its natural beauty, but who run smack dab into a housing shortage.
“There are people waiting to come here because they can’t find housing for their five-person high-tech business,” he told the group.
“They can go wherever the heck they want to, and this is where they want to go.
“They can’t find an office, can’t find anyplace to live.”
Acker said he, his staff and players throughout the past year have spent time working with younger players, have been involved in community youth baseball and have given schoolchildren tours of the Civic Field facilities.
Acker is the majority owner in an ownership group that includes Port Angeles businessman and Next Door Gastropub co-owner Jake Oppelt.
“It’s been a very successful business venture,” Acker said. “The profit mostly goes back into my investment.”
Nathan West, city community and economic development director, attended the breakfast meeting.
Having the Lefties in Port Angeles “brought back a level of energy we haven’t seen in our community in many years,” he said Tuesday afternoon.
Delikat, the parks and recreation director, said negotiations will begin later this year on extending Mack Athletics’ facility use agreement to a minimum five-year rolling contract.
Delikat said goal would be to commit the team to a long-term presence in the community.
Acker said he’s already begun talking to city officials about a long-term pact.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
