The Onondaga County Legislature voted unanimously to approve the Syracuse Chiefs’ new 11-year lease to remain in Alliance Bank Stadium.
The 17-0 vote will allow the Chiefs, an AAA baseball club affiliated with the Washington Nationals, to remain at the stadium until the lease expires on Dec. 31, 2022. The main reason for the extension is that it shifts the nearly $500,000 yearly maintenance cost from the county to the team, eliminating the burden on the taxpayers.
It also gives the county the right to sell the stadium — built in 1997 at a cost of $28 million, which was funded by taxpayers — for $2.8 million at the end of the lease. The Chiefs will pay $126,000 for use of the stadium this year, with a 2-percent increase each of the following 10 years. In 2022, the payment will be $153,576.
Neil Benjamin Jr. can be reached at [email protected].
