Play Ball! (And Belly Up to the Bar); SF SoMa Businesses Rejoice With MLB Season Saved
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- Major League Baseball players and owners ended a bitter money fight when a divided players' association accepted management's offer to salvage a 162-game season Thursday.
It's a huge win for businesses around Oracle Park. It was just Wednesday when many business owners around the ballpark were considering laying off staff or even closing up shop.
April 8 is when the Giants will play their first game of the season. Tens of thousands of fans coming to the ballpark is exactly what local businesses were hoping for.
"I think it's safe to say as long as I've been in this neighborhood this is the most important season of baseball for these surrounding businesses, for the people who live in this area," said Scott Morton, the owner of MoMo's.
Morton admits he was just about to send e-mails to push back the start date for seasonal employees. Then came news the league and players had struck a deal.
"Now we start to ramp up right, that's the fun part. We get to call all those seasonal employees who use this place as a primary source of income during the summer. We get to have them come back," he said.
Those employees will serve the fans that come back to watch their favorite team take care of some unfinished business.
"I'm excited. I'm a lifelong Giants fan. They won the division last year, almost beat the Dodgers so (I'm) excited to see what they're going to do this year," said Myron Lee.
"I'm definitely excited to see the Giants come back. I live across the street so it's always an exciting time," said Steve Johnson.
In less than a month, local business owners feel they can finally start to recover from the losses they suffered over the past two years of pandemic.
"I want to carry a piece of wood around with me and knock on it whenever I say we're back to normal but it seems like normalcy is reigning again which is so strange to say but it feels right," Morton said.
The Giants will play the Miami Marlins in the home opener -- their first Opening Day at home since 2009.