Before fans can pack the stands, the Phillies’ grounds crew is hard at work at Citizens Bank Park ahead of Opening Day.
Hundreds of contractors, vendors and workers have been preparing for weeks ahead of the first game of the season as the Phillies gear up to take on the Texas Rangers on Thursday in South Philadelphia.
Scott Jenkins, the general manager of ABM, the company that helps manage housekeeping and engineering for the Phillies, said the intense winter weather has had the largest impact on their operations.
“It’s been incredibly busy,” Jenkins said. “The biggest challenge was just those two big snowstorms we had and the deep freeze we had in January. You couldn’t do much around the ballpark and it took a long time to thaw out.”
The snow came with an added advantage for director of field operations Jeremy Wilt and his team.
“As far as the grass, it helped because of the snow cap we had over it. Acted kind of like a blanket,” Wilt said.
This isn’t the only big event the Phillies are preparing for. The All-Star Game is taking place in July for the first time at Citizens Bank Park, leading staff to make more room for the influx of media expected to attend.
“For us, it’s just another game,” Wilt said. “We expanded our warning track in front of the dugout by three feet to accommodate the lovely media.”
Although it’s a first for the ballpark, it’s not a first for the city. Philadelphia hosted the All-Star Game at Veterans Stadium back in 1996.
“It’s been just a lot of activity coming into the new year, getting ready for this,” Jenkins said. “We’re excited to get the baseball season going.”
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