Hi, I'm Jeff Rea, your host for Economic Outlook.

Welcome to our program.

We hope you enjoy the show.

Please make plans each week to join us as we discuss the region's most important economic development initiatives with a panel of experts.

Baseball season has kicked off and the South Bend Cubs are back in action.

The team has big plans for this season and even bigger plans for the off season, with some major stadium improvements.

We're sitting down with South Bend Cubs owner Andrew Berlin.

Coming up on economic outlook.

He bought the South Bend Cubs in 2011.

And he's changed your experience at the ballpark and changed how we think about minor league baseball in South Bend.

Each year, the team is one of the busiest attractions in the region.

As it attracts more than 300,000 fans.

The team has big plans for the season and beyond, with a major construction project set to kick off in September.

We're giving you an inside look at what lies ahead with South Bend Cubs owner Andrew Berlin.

Welcome, Andrew.

Thank you.

Glad to have you back.

This is one of my favorite shows every year.

I'm a baseball fan and so always enjoy talking about what's going on with South Bend Cubs.

Andrew, for those who maybe haven't seen one of our previous shows, so just go back in time a little bit.

You've been involved for a few years now.

Give us a quick history catch up of Andrew Berlin's involvement with the South and Cubs.

Well, it started in 2011.

I came to visit South Bend and at that time Coveleski Stadium and a summer game.

It was a Friday night with, former Governor Joe Kernan.

And, I was looking forward to coming out to the ballpark and seeing what, you know, he had built or what was happening there.

And on a Friday night, I was walking through the concourse and my shoes were sticking to the floor because they didn't wash it very often.

and then when he got to our seats, there are about 200 people there on a Friday night.

And it was it was not a pretty picture for South Bend or for that time, the Silver Hawks.

And I remember leaving and calling my wife and saying, you know, I just don't think this is going to be for me.

And, Joe Kernan and I had a phone call scheduled, you know, the next day.

And he wanted to know what I was going to offer for the team.

And I told Joe, I, I think I'm going to take a pass on it.

This is this is too big of a lift, and I'm busy with other things.

And he wouldn't hang up.

He kept going.

And anyone who knows, Governor Kernan, there's no saying no to that man.

And, the conversation continued.

Finally he said, you know, name a number.

And I said, well, I thought to myself, I knew this was going to happen.

And I said, okay, I named a number that was, you know, relatively lower than than maybe what one would have expected.

They say, can you come up a smidge?

I said, I can come up a smidge.

And we made the deal right there on the phone.

And I hung up the phone and I said to my wife, I don't know what just happened, but I just bought a ball.

Ballpark in a or not a ballpark, but a team.

And, and then it was off to the races that we had a lot of really good ideas, what we wanted to do there.

But we also knew that in order to execute those ideas, we had to have really great people with great experience, great traits and personality traits and, you know, really great skills.

And, as I met Joe, you know, Joe Hart at the time, he is still our team president today.

And by the time we open the gates for the 2012 season, a lot of changes had been made.

And every single year since then, we have always improved the stadium in some big way, some small ways.

But the way we are now, we we've won lots of awards for the best stadium in all of minor league baseball.

several times, we've won regional awards.

We've won renovation awards.

and it just is a real testament to the way we dream.

We dream big and but we also recruit and hire and retain great talent to execute those ideas.

So it's it's been a marvelous run.

And now we're right on the cusp of the biggest renovation ever.

That's great.

So one more personal question before it gets renovation.

So when did this love affair with baseball start?

You're a business guy.

You have run a successful business.

You have this interest kind of on the side, if you will.

Not that it's not a part time job.

I know, but so, so so just give us a your baseball connection.

Yeah.

My baseball connection.

yeah.

I have been in industrial manufacturing and distribution for most of my adult life.

I practiced law for two years.

That didn't last very long.

I didn't really enjoy that part.

but, I did have a love of baseball.

And for a lot of people, it goes back to the childhood.

You know, you either you go to the game with the parents or you go with friends.

And it's where memories are created and made and and generally good memories.

in Chicago, there's no shortage of great good memories that whether it be at Wrigley Field or the old Comiskey Stadium, where the White Sox played, and I went to both stadiums regularly, for me, however, it started, in 2007, I was able to, buy out one of the partners of the White Sox at that time and then ended up buying up more and more partners of the White Sox and started to aggregate a pretty nice minority chunk of the of the, of the of the team.

And at that time, I started building an ambition because I loved it so much, being a part of the organization.

But as a minority partner, not as much fun.

I had this ambition to buy a team, and so I met with a number of Major League Baseball owners.

No teams were safe for sale at the time.

and then, you know, I joined the Cubs in 2014.

So, my ownership in the White Sox went into a trust is separate and apart, and I have no longer any control over the trusted, as my my children are part of that now.

But, I joined the Cubs in 2014, and I joined an organization that was very ambitious, investing a great deal in Wrigley, investing a great deal and building a team.

Of course, they won the World Series two years later, but it was at that time I had this idea that we could, replace the Diamondbacks as our major league affiliate here in South Bend, the South Bend Silver Hawks, and bring it to the Cubs.

And thankfully, the Cubs were agreeable to that switch.

And the South Bend Cubs started officially in 2015, and we've never looked back.

You know, it's been exciting for me as a baseball fan, back to back to the early days of the stadium.

I've been out there just because I love the game and such, but but as you mentioned, the improvements that have happened in recent years and you're kind of this continuous improvement mindset and and so let's we'll, we'll talk, stadium improvements first and then we'll come back to that because I don't want to dismiss this season as well too.

But so, so so you mentioned this, this is an award winning ballpark.

People recognize that you've made major investments.

City has a lot of folks have partnerships have come together to make this happen.

But but you've got bigger plans a little bit.

So walk into that a little bit and talk to us a little bit about what's on the horizon for Four Winds Field.

it starts with a recognition that, you know, the partnership that we have with the city, the partnership, the relationship that we have with the citizens of the entire region, not just South Bend, but the whole Michiana region has been phenomenal and has been growing almost to the point that we're selling out almost every game.

Once we get out of the tough weather of April and a little bit of May.

But when the schools are out, we're selling out almost every game.

And, you know, we talk internally about, well, I wish we had more seats.

I wish we had more room to bring more people in because, you know, sell outs are fantastic, but you want to accommodate everybody who wants to come to the game.

South Bend, also independent of the South Bend Cubs.

South Bend as a city has been improving dramatically, too.

There's been a a lot of new businesses that are moving in the downtown South Bend.

There are more hotels, more bars and more restaurants.

the population is growing.

And, you know, even even last year, a study was done.

The South Bend Cubs return a $24 million economic impact, to the city.

and so, that's important.

And it's a city owned stadium that we rent from the city, from the citizens.

But our our kind of, our deal with the city is that we're going to do everything we can to revive downtown, South Bend.

And I think we've been an engine, an engine of growth in that area.

Having said all of that, and we feel great about that, we feel we can do even more, much more.

And, in the state of Indiana has, you know, two wonderful aspects to it compared to almost any other state.

and remember, I live in the state of Illinois.

And so if Illinois runs at a deficit, we're always in the hole that the state always owes money.

the state of Indiana runs at a surplus.

The state of Indiana.

This is not a shout out to any politicians.

I mean, it's the truth.

It this state is run.

Well, it's run like a respectable fiscally oriented business.

And and as a consequence, it has the ability to fund certain activities throughout the state, and spend some of that surplus and whether it be highways, schools, hospitals, renovating stadiums, what have you.

which is phenomenal.

Having said that, we also have legislation that has been in place and myself, our team, you were very helpful as well.

We all went down to Indianapolis to get this professional sports development area legislation passed this PSDA, if you will, enables us to keep taxes that are already paid income taxes, or you know, other kinds of taxes that are being paid anyway, sales taxes to those tax dollars that are paid in the normal course of living here generally go down to the Treasury in Indianapolis and then dispersed out to the rest of the state.

Through this new legislation that we have, we can now keep those taxes paid in South Bend.

And those are the taxes that are helping to renovate the stadium.

So the win for the citizens of this area is that taxes don't go up.

They don't have to pay for the renovation.

It's already going to be paid just simply by the taxes that we normally pay.

And, that's a big win for the electorate, for the people who live here.

And so the renovation we're doing is going to bring our overall attendance probably just to a smidge over 10,000. we've had games that we're we've hosted about 8100 before, before a 100 people.

That was on on July 3rd before July 4th, of course.

And those are obviously big, big district games.

But we can now create an experience that is extraordinary and I'm happy to share some of those aspects.

But there are a few secrets I want to hold back because I want to surprise and delight the crowd.

next opening day next year.

Yeah, I love it.

So so give us a feel for the timeframe, because you have short windows sometimes between when baseball is not in place to give us a feel for a time frame for the time frame is pretty straightforward.

So, you know, opening day is April 9th next week.

So and encourage your viewers to, to buy tickets or if it's you're seeing this after then please come out.

But, our last game is in the first week of September, and we will have collected all the building materials.

All the contracts will be signed, all the tradespeople will be ready to go right after our last game.

And we break game.

We break ground immediately and the entire off season will be used.

I think we could finish about 60% of the project.

All the work that has to be done in the ballpark should be done by opening day, April of 2025, and then after that season, we'll have the second off season to finish up the other 40%, if you will.

And so, it took Wrigley, four off seasons to do their billion dollar project, you know, in 2014 forward, obviously it's a bigger stadium, but we feel very, very good about our plans to get this done with two off seasons.

But be ready to play baseball by next spring.

I love it, sounds good.

And we're going to take a quick break.

I'm with Andrew Berlin, the owner of the South Bend Cubs We're going out to the field.

George Lepeniotis my co-host is out at Four Winds Field.

George, let me toss it to you.

Thanks, Jeff.

one of my favorite places downtown, South Bend at four Winds Field.

And I am joined by president of the South Bend Cubs, Joe Hart.

Joe, thanks for being with us.

My pleasure.

Always a great day at the ball.

That's right.

And you are one of our great alumni.

I think we do a show with you every year and I can't complain about the opportunity.

tell me, as we sit here on a glorious spring day.

How are things going here at, for Winfield, for the South Bend Cubs?

It's amazing.

Season's off to a good start.

You know, obviously with the guys are playing a little bit better.

But anytime baseball is going on at Four Winds Field it's just a great thing.

Hard to say.

It's hard to be upset.

Yeah.

It's hard.

It's been 13 years now since Andrew bought the ball club.

So you know, obviously I know we're going to talk about it here momentarily, but all the changes to the ballpark have been outstanding and more come substantial changes.

I mean, really has reignited what was already a nice community asset but turned it into something that is really a source of pride.

Yeah.

But more importantly for our show is really an economic driver.

I mean, as we look around in years past, we've talked to you about the Berlin Flats we've talked to you about the Unite Federal Credit Union.

how are those projects going?

Give us a quick update on some of the previous, you know, state of the art things that you and Mr. Berlin and implemented here at the field.

Yeah, it's been great.

I mean, obviously the apartments are full.

Actually, this year we got some of our players living in there.

So they certainly love the proximity to being here.

The rooftop has been, you know, what a great addition.

It just kind of gives you that synergy to Wrigley Field.

So everything we've done here, it was just really to enhance the experience of the ballpark.

When Andrew bought the ballclub 13 years ago, you know, you didn't have a lot of the amenities that we have now.

And for us, it's all about the experience.

You know, I tell everybody, whatever happens on the field, I don't control that.

That's all handled by the Cubs with the players and the coaching staff.

But it's everything else we can control, and we want to make sure our fans have the best time, whether we're winning or not.

And, that happens with good food, great customer service, great fireworks shows.

and that's that's what we do.

Yeah.

And you do it extremely well.

And I know in years past we've talked about some of the worst, some of the accolades you've received from within baseball in general, just minor league baseball, of really pushing the envelope and looking for state of the industry and what's, what's out there that you can bring, back home to South Bend.

Well, let's talk about it.

That right.

I mean, that's there's a next step to this.

You're not done.

Andrew's not done.

Yeah.

our civic leaders are not about helping support the Cubs.

What's next?

As we stare over at the, bleachers in the stands.

Yeah, it's going to be totally different.

We're going to change the landscape before once field once again.

So the second deck, we're going to add, starting the middle of the season, and they're going to be coming in, starting out.

So the existing roof line is going to come off and we're going to build upwards.

So there'll be suites on that level.

On each end of the concourse will be a group of three hold about 240 people on each side.

We're going to relocate the fun zone from left center field, over to the right field area.

The fun zone or the splash pad is going to move over here.

So we got all kinds of things going on, like our splash pad has been such a hit, on those warm days in the summertime that we need more space.

So it's going to be about two and a half to three times larger in the new location.

Then again, it's just changing things up.

Keep fans wanting to come back out and let the kids have a good time when they're here.

Well, in nine innings is a little bit rough on a on a ten year old.

Oh yeah.

Giving them a splash pad to cool off and enjoy during the summers is a great draw.

And really a draw has not been this stadium's problem, right?

I mean, the problem is really that you're beyond capacity.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean we have about 42, 43 games a year that we sell out and just get into standing room only tickets.

And, you know, that's what we want to do.

This is going to give us the opportunity to increase that capacity.

But the other thing is it's going to improve the service of what we can provide to our guest.

Because right now, pretty much all the amenities are in the concourse.

We're trying to add some things like this.

Spread it out, because right now restrooms the only place to go under the concourse.

You know, this stadium really wasn't built to hold the capacity that we're getting on some of these Friday and Saturday nights.

So the more activity we can create around the entire ballpark just makes it a little bit easier on the concourse from food and beverage standpoint, restroom standpoint, you know, on a Friday night, you can't do there.

There's really not a whole lot of space to navigate, through there.

So, you know, our biggest thing is just overall enhancing the experience for the fans.

And while we give a lot of credit to you and Andrew Berlin, the owner, for having the vision and really putting your own efforts and resources into the project, community leaders have been supportive, outstanding.

I've been doing this 30 years and I say it all the time.

This is the best partnership I've ever had with the city and city anywhere.

I right that Mayor Mueller and his team absolutely phenomenal.

I mean, this doesn't happen without their support.

And you know obviously it's been great.

We've had a lot of help down down south in Indianapolis, with some of the legislators down there to make this happen, because with all these improvements, it's tied to the professional sports development fund.

So there are no increased taxes for anybody in the area to do all this work.

And again, it doesn't happen without Andrew.

It doesn't happen without the mayor and the city council.

So, you know, on behalf of myself and our organization, I want to thank them because it's been the true definition of private public partnership.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

Before I let you go, there's some improvements that are going to happen to the actual playing field as well.

That's kind of interesting.

You're actually ripping out the field.

Yeah.

At the end of the season we'll remove the field.

A typical natural grass playing surface is good for about 7 to 8 years.

We actually got ten out of it.

but the interesting thing is our plan is to have Roger Bossert, the head groundskeeper of the Chicago White Sox, is going to be the one that comes in and does what he's done over half the major league stadiums.

So he actually put it in in 2015.

So we know Roger well.

But his nickname in the industry is the sode father.

So go to the best right.

Well we're going to leave this episode on the sode father Jeff, back to you.

Where I don't know if you have the sode father in the studio, but out here at the ballpark, a great field, a great fan experience is what it's all about in the South Bend, Cubs have hit a home run and continue to swing all.

George.

Thank you.

I was glad to get you out to the stadium.

Thanks for being a great host over there.

So let's continue our discussion.

We talked briefly about, just the economic impact you have on the community.

You know, one of the things in my head I think about in the 1980s when this was proposed, the thought was the ballpark was going to be this key catalyst to development that happened in around it.

It's taken a little bit longer than, than expected.

But, but your own investment in the outfield there now, some other investments talk a little bit about just the the catalytic impact a ballpark has on the development around it in downtown.

Yeah, it's it's not a, a slam dunk when you build a ballpark is going to have the economic development.

And in this case, the I've had a lot of experience building businesses and, and in building the profitability of any business, you have to increase the revenues.

You have to control your expenses and improve productivity in everything you do.

And you have to be able to quantify each one of those three legs of the stool.

But you can't do it with just two legs.

You can't do it with one without the other.

When I came to town, South Bend was very kind to me.

We we signed a 20 year lease, so I was I was in for a long time.

We just re-upped that lease for an additional 20 years.

So we're going to be around for a long time.

But I took my job seriously.

You know, South Bend made some concessions to have me, you know, come here, build the team.

And they were they've been partners ever since.

Whether it was Mayor Luecke Mayor Buttigieg and now our current you know, mayor, you know, James Mueller.

And so everyone has been terrific.

But I don't think they would be that way if they didn't feel that there was a balance in the relationship, that if everyone is doing what they're supposed to do.

And I took our job is custodians of the city's ballpark.

I took it very seriously because becoming a custodian of the Cubs brand and to make sure that everybody got a great return on investment, doing business with us, with me, the city of South Bend.

And so we we take it very seriously.

And we it's a great deal of pride that South Bend has changed so dramatically, certainly since, you know, 2012, our first season to to the present.

Now, I know the University of Notre Dame is about to on the cusp of making great investments in downtown South Bend, which I think is fabulous.

they have the experience.

They have the, you know, they have the funds.

They they have, you know, just the expertise to do a great job.

we're partners with them.

And however they want to use us and use our any if assistance we can offer them.

But everyone here and I have to say, it's almost a a really great template that is so different than the way politics play out nationally.

You know, we're not Republicans here.

We're not Democrats are not independents.

There are there is no one race or one religion or one background that is being taken care of more than the other.

We're all in this together.

And so those party lines that exist elsewhere that we read about in the newspaper, we see it on TV, we see it in social media.

That's not the case here.

At least I haven't experienced that.

And I think it's because everyone understands that everyone's working really, really hard for the same thing.

And that is for South Bend to become a powerful engine of growth that can afford better schools, better roads, better education for people who want it and need it.

You know, better hospitals, better a better quality of life for everybody that's here.

I'm not I'm not running for political office and I'm not I'm not a politician, but I there is a social contract when you have an asset, like a ball club in a downtown of a city, you have a responsibility to be a good citizen, a good corporate citizen, but not just in a speech, but in action.

And we take that very, very seriously here.

So I mentioned earlier, so, so probably the largest single attraction in terms of bringing the number of people they bring through the turnstile.

other than Notre Dame, other Notre Dame.

Right.

Yes.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Do your credit report.

That's true.

Yes.

I did meet a slight them and that's all right.

So this is the aspire.

Yes.

So the season has kicked off.

So talk to us a little bit about the 24 season and what people can expect when they come out for Four Winds Field?

Well you're going to get great baseball.

just to start with, I mean, for the true baseball fans, it's going to be phenomenal.

The Cubs farm system, there are 30 major league teams with 30 farm systems, and they're ranked every year by various experts and by Major League Baseball.

in 2020, the Cubs farm system was ranked 24th out of 30. not a good ranking.

in similar territory.

You know, the White Sox are not ranked very high this year, but the Cubs are ranked at number two right?

Yeah.

So there's amazing talent, obviously, as we all know in Baltimore, who is really making a big comeback.

you know, the big heavy, heavy paid, you know, players are in, in Los Angeles and the Dodgers, but not in the farm system.

Our farm system of the Cubs is number two out of 30.

And there's some great talent in South Bend as the other levels.

We've won championships with other players that have since moved on to Double-A.

In Triple-A, we we expect to be championship ready with this team, you know, for this season.

So it's gonna be great baseball.

Aside from that, the stadium experience is going to be fantastic.

And we have wonderful, legacy of people that have started with us when we became the South Bend Cubs.

Still work for us.

So they have the like, the legacy of wisdom and experience and how to treat fans wonderfully and thoughtfully and lovingly.

If you will.

And they're just getting better and better at what they do.

So whatever ideas I may have for what the experience ought to be, the customer experience ought to be, we have people that execute those ideas, and so they're going to be a few surprises.

Again, it's still going to be a very, very clean stadium.

We have really lovely people there that are going to treat people with great respect and friendship.

When they come to the ballpark, you will feel welcome, you'll feel safe, you'll feel taken care of.

And that's something we really, really pride ourselves on.

And we're just getting better and better at that.

And of course, a a new, larger stadium will enable us to do even more.

But, this this season should be awesome.

Yeah.

It's exciting.

You know, I know the last few years with All-Star game or championships, like, you know, all kinds of different things, both on the baseball side, but also on the the fan experience side.

And I think maybe that's one of the the key pieces here where, you don't have to be a baseball fan to come, right?

In fact, a lot of people, you know, are are they're not watching baseball, right?

They're enjoying the great food.

You have or the, the other facilities that are there are some, directional statistics.

And just the point you're making that minor league baseball.

85% of the fans after they leave the game can't even remember the score.

so they are there for the experience.

But, you know, if you look out over the crowd, a lot of the crowd is walking around the concourse.

They're walking in out of the team store, which is one of the most beautiful team stores because it's in a, you know, a former synagogue over 100 years old and still has the stained glass and the chandeliers.

And it's it's beautiful there.

You got the tiki hut in the outfield.

You've got the Performance Center where kids are taking swings and in the batting cages, the same cages that the Cubs work out in.

it and you have, you know, friends, family, you know, kids coming together just sitting in the stands having a great time.

So it is a very lovely, lovely place to watch a game in a summer night with the moon and the stars above you with no time clock.

And it is.

It's a just a great place to be for, for say 3 or 4 hours if you want, or a couple hours if you wish.

Right.

So we're down there about last minute and a half.

So again, maybe a hopeful reminder about what what's ahead.

Give them the last plug on on on being encouraged about the construction that's going to happen out there.

Well, what's ahead is that, in terms of this season or just after.

So, yeah, after the season, well, we're going to have a stadium that's, it's going to be beautiful.

it'll have more amenities, more bathrooms, more kitchens.

We believe it or not, we serve 8000 people from one kitchen.

after the renovation, we'll have three kitchens.

That enables us to expand the menus as well.

we'll have a beautiful, entertainment and event building that'll be set.

built in left corner field, left field corner.

And that'll be four stories tall there.

that's going to offer lots of, you know, spaces for people to use.

I could go on and I think that's I think that's great.

I think that we whet people's appetite.

We will have fountains, rivers, splash pads and waterfalls.

I love it in the ballpark.

He's Andrew Berlin he's the owner of something.

Cubs.

You're generous with your time.

Thank you for the investment that you continue to make in our community.

We're really excited about the interest.

My pleasure.

Jeff.

Thank you.

That's it for our show today.

On behalf of the entire team here at PBS Michiana.

WNIT, thank you for watching or listening to our podcast.

To watch this episode again or at any of our past episodes, you can find Economic Outlook at wnit.org, or find our podcast and most major podcast platforms.

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I'm Jeff Rea, I'll see you next time.

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