The Greenville Drive is a team, a baseball team. Everyone knows that.
The Drive Steps Up To Plate As Partner For GreenvilleBut when Craig and Jeff Brown talk about “the team,” they likely mean something more expansive than the guys on the field.
“It's a partnership in a true sense,” says Craig Brown, who owns The Drive and brought the team to Greenville in 2005.
“It was a high-profile project 20 years ago, and everybody in the city got behind it. It was exciting. It was a significant accomplishment to get the ballpark built in 10 months and see the joy it brought to the community.”
The Greenville Drive is the High-A Minor League affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.
Construction of the stadium – reminiscent of Boston’s iconic Fenway Park, complete with the old-time scoreboard in a wall known as the “Green Monster” – was funded privately and completed for the 2006 season. The city leased the property in the historic West End of Downtown Greenville. Fluor Corp. obtained the naming rights in 2008.
Brown says he didn’t initially expect to be so involved in the operation of the team and the stadium. But the game and the town pulled at him.
“I began to realize exactly what a team can mean for a community and what a team can do for a community,” he says.
“We started to use our platform to connect philanthropic initiatives with commercial initiatives with community initiatives. The community has to win. The Drive has to win. The sponsor has to win. It's about coming up with win-win partnerships. Those are the relationships that are sustainable.”
During a 20th anniversary celebration recently, Jeff Brown announced that The Drive will partner with “Greenville Together: A Home for All.” Created by the United Way of Greenville County, the City of Greenville, businesses and individuals, the initiative will strive to reduce homelessness in the short term while working toward long-term solutions.
The Drive has pledged $25,000, plus staff support and public awareness.
“The organization has always been about much more than baseball,” says Jeff, who is President of The Drive ... and Craig’s son. “It's about using baseball and the appeal of entertainment to make an impact on the community in every way we can.”
The Drive’s season begins with a home game Friday, April 4, against the Bowling Green (Kentucky) Hot Rods. Mayor Knox White will throw out the first pitch, as he did 20 years ago.
Fans this season will discover improvements at the stadium, Jeff says. “The physical infrastructure, the quality, the impact, the excitement, the hospitality areas – always high-quality and best-in-class,” he says.
“This year, we've made a significant investment in our production capabilities: video and sound and replay, our LED lights. That’s going to be better than ever.”
Jeff says the organization has learned that video replays are especially important to fans in the stadium.
“The video equipment, new cameras. We can get new angles, new sound quality,” he says. “People in the stands want to watch the action on the field and also capture it in the replay. The investment is to ensure that replays are timely and high-quality and relevant. It adds to the experience.”
The Drive will play 66 games this season at Fluor Field. Each year, about 500,000 people attend a game or a community event at the stadium.
When Major and Minor League ...
