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Modesto Council to vote on amended lease agreement with Seattle Mariners for John Thurman Field
John Thurman Field
The city-owned ballpark itself, built in 1955, was at the center of lease negotiations between Modesto and the Seattle Mariners over the past year. Major League Baseball had been requiring renovations of roughly $32,054,611 to get the facility up to professional standards (Journal file photo).

Not so fast, Nuts.

After the City of Modesto and Seattle Mariners announced on July 10 that this season would be the last for the Modesto Nuts at John Thurman Field, a new path to keep the professional club in the city is now being considered.

On Friday afternoon, the City of Modesto posted a press release on its social media channels sharing that an amended lease contract for the John Thurman Field property had been discussed and would be voted on by the city council at their next meeting on Tuesday. The city owns the property, stadium and parking facilities that comprise John Thurman Field located at 601 Neece Drive.

The details of the potential agreement are included on the council’s agenda packet, though it was not finalized as of Friday night.

The terms of the lease would include the following:

  • The Nuts (owned by the Mariners) would pay an annual lease of $600,000 for 2025, with $75,000 held by the team to be put towards capital improvements at John Thurman Field that are required by Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and the MLB and MiLB Players Associations;
  • The Nuts/Mariners would be required to pay for all ongoing repairs and maintenance expenses; 
  • At the conclusion of the 2025 season, the Nuts would have to submit an accounting to the City of Modesto showing how those withheld funds were used. Any amount not used for capital improvements would then be paid to the city. The city also claims that the revenue they would receive from the Nuts/Mariners would be able to fully cover the General Fund cost associated with operating John Thurman Field; 
  • The Nuts/Mariners would also agree that they would not engage any other city or entity within Stanislaus County to negotiate the development or redevelopment of a baseball or multipurpose sports facility during the lease, which runs through December 2026;
  • The city and the Nuts/Mariners would agree that if a new, long-term lease agreement for John Thurman Field is not finalized by April 1, unless otherwise agreed in writing, negotiations will end, and the team would be out by Oct. 1, 2025.

The proposed resolution, if adopted, will authorize City Manager Joe Lopez to finalize the lease amendment, subject to the negotiated terms. The council meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at 1010 10th St., Lower Level, Modesto. A livestream of the meeting and the full agenda packet can be accessed at www.modestogov.com/659/City-Council.  

The new lease terms come after the City of Modesto and the Mariners reengaged in talks in the past two weeks. The Modesto Bee first reported that the two sides held closed-door meetings starting on Aug. 13. It remains to be seen who initiated the discussions and how far they have progressed.

The city-owned ballpark itself, built in 1955, was at the center of lease negotiations over the past year. Major League Baseball had been requiring renovations of roughly $32,054,611 to get the facility up to professional standards, per a memo provided to the Modesto City Council. 

Those renovations included:

  • Larger clubhouses for both teams with improved lockers;
  • Nutrition, food-prep and dining areas for home and visiting teams;
  • Better training facilities for players including weight rooms and multiple pitching and batting tunnels;
  • Separate spaces for female staffers;
  • Brighter stadium lights. 

According to the memo, the city has paid $1.3 million for capital improvements at John Thurman Field since 2017. An additional $3 million in operating costs for the stadium have also been provided by the city since 2018.

The memo also stated that attendance was 87,967 in 2023, down from 96,365 in 2022. Both figures were far greater than the 42,200 attendance mark of 2021 that was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, though they remained significantly lower than the 139,762 fans who walked through the gates in 2019 before the pandemic’s arrival. 

The Seattle Mariners became partial owners of the Modesto Nuts in October of 2017 alongside private ownership group HWS. The Mariners fully acquired the organization in November 2020. As a member of the Seattle farm system, the Nuts have won a pair of California League titles, the first in 2017 and the latest this past fall. In their history, Modesto has hoisted the championship banner 10 times since becoming a professional team in 1946, when they joined the California League as an independent club. With 77 years under its belt, Modesto is the longest tenured team in the league.

As of Saturday morning, there are eight regular season home games left for the Nuts this year, with the last slated for Sept. 8 against the Stockton Ports. After clinching the first-half California League North Division title in June, Modesto is guaranteed at least one home postseason game, Game 2 of the 2024 California League North Division Playoffs on Sept. 12. They would also host Game 3 of the series if necessary.