FLORIDA, USA — Are you a fan who wants to live like a baseball player for a day? Well, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos in Florida can make that dream come true.
With no minor league baseball games to be played this season, the Blue Wahoos have gotten creative and dove into the hospitality business. For the first time ever, a professional baseball stadium is available for rent on Air BnB to give fans the most intimate, behind-the-scenes ballpark experience in history.
"We were looking for something creative and consistent going forward," Media and Public Relations Manager Daniel Venn said. "Our owner's daughter mentioned what's the number one ultimate experience you can do at our ballpark that's no one ever offered before. She said, 'What if we let people stay.'"
Jonathan Griffth, the President of the Blue Wahoos, mentioned when they first came up with the idea, he hoped to get 50 dates. Now, it has turned into the hottest ticket in the nation.
"Within the first 24 hours we sold out of the available time we have," Griffith said. "We sold out the entire month of June. The reason we stopped is we are hoping to play baseball here. That still is an option for us."
The Blue Wahoos are the first minor league professional baseball team to offer the concept. They are also one of the few to do it at any professional sports level.
"The entire reason we did this was to have jobs," Griffith said. "Be able to employ people and to make sure we were keeping people employed."
For $1,500 per night, up to 10 people can rent the Minnesota Twins minor league affiliate's stadium on Air BnB. Guests who stay at the ballpark will have full access to the newly-renovated and fully-furnished clubhouse, a large bedroom with 10 beds, the batting cage and the field itself.
"If you want to have a picnic on the field, the lights are on until 11 every single night so you can really go do whatever you'd like on the field during your stay," Venn said. "You can get up in the morning and play some more on the field as well."
Much like a regular hotel stay, check-in time each day is at 3 p.m. and check-out is 11 a.m. the next morning. The overwhelming attention this attraction has received has been pretty amazing.
"Over the past couple of days, people around the world have now heard about Pensacola, Florida," Venn said. "We're hoping a lot of people come here to stay at the Air BnB and they go to the restaurants, go to the beaches and helps out local businesses and bring in new people in our community that have never been here."
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