Charlotte Sports Park Security During the 2020 MLB Season

About the Program

Category: Parks and Recreation (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

The Charlotte County Sports Park is the spring training home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays. In March 2020 Major League Baseball cancelled its annual spring training program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. MLB operations resumed on July 1 when spring training 2.0 returned the Rays to the Charlotte Sports Park. In response to the pandemic, Charlotte County Community Services, in cooperation with the Tampa Bay Rays and MLB, implemented new security measures at the Charlotte Sports Park to support spring training 2.0. This condensed version of regular spring training allowed players to resume conditioning for the upcoming MLB season. The new security protocols continued through the regular MLB season at the end of October 2020. The purpose of these new security protocols was to provide a protective bubble around players, coaches and support staff of the Tampa Bay Rays by preventing contact with the public, vendors and county staff while on the Charlotte Sports Park campus. The new security protocols remained in place through the regular season until the completion of the MLB World Series, in which the Rays participated as the American League Champions.