San Juan Expands Seating

[MikeB]

It’s been nine seasons since Luis Munoz Rivera, head of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC) brought the Coqui to San Juan from Rio Grande. Although he oddly sold the franchise back to a Texan in 2026, the PRTC Stadium name survived the sale.

Attendance plummeted Beardsall’s first four years as did the performance on the field and it’s a wonder General Manager Mike Best survived. But a championship and subsequent second round playoff appearance and San Juan is increasing seats for the first time since arriving on the island.

There were discussions last season about raising capacity but the team ultimately decided it preferred a season of sell-outs and high demand. But fans won’t be squeezed this year with 3,000 new seats. A construction contract snafu delayed some of the work but the team says the extra seating will be ready by the start of the season.

The team is projecting 29,500 season tickets to be sold this season, an 8.5% increase from last year. A total of 19,308 have been sold as of Feb. 12.

It hasn’t hurt the team’s marketing that two of its all stars are local grown - shortstop Roberto Salazar and reliever José Gómez. It was no secret that Rivera wanted Gómez to be the Coqui’s first ever draft pick in the contraction draft in 2023. At the time another Puerto Rican was being used to push the first ticket sales - Jorge Núñez, who is now a pitching coach in the organization. Gómez would eventually replace him as the closer and is now just nine saves behind him for the franchise lead.

Another local has joined the squad this year - former hurler Alfredo Velázquez who was named the Coqui pitching coach in the offseason.

According to Best, there were no baseball discussions regarding the increased seating. It is just a business thing.

“The field dimensions won’t change. We don’t anticipate any wind shifts. It will just be louder,” he said.