ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Lehigh Valley IronPigs announced Thursday that their home ballpark will be renamed Jefferson Park beginning in the 2027 season, replacing the Coca-Cola name it has carried since the stadium opened in 2008.
Neither the team nor Jefferson, the health care and higher education system that owns Lehigh Valley Health Network, disclosed the length or dollar value of the agreement. The team’s news release said only that the IronPigs will play at Jefferson Park “for decades to come,” and that details “will be finalized and shared in the coming months.”
The stadium does not belong to the team. Lehigh County owns Coca-Cola Park. In a joint statement with the team in October 2022, the county said the IronPigs had signed a lease extension to play in “Lehigh County’s Coca-Cola Park” through the 2052 season. Neither the county nor the team has said publicly whether the county gets any share of what Jefferson pays to put its name on the building. The county commissioners next meet Sept. 23.
When the end of the Coca-Cola deal was announced in February, Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel said in a statement that he would work with the IronPigs to identify a new sponsor “who will serve as Coca-Cola did, not only as a corporate partner, but as a true community partner for the future.”
Thursday’s release did not quote Siegel or any other county official. As of Thursday afternoon, Siegel had not addressed the announcement on his X account, where his most recent post was dated Sept. 7.
Jefferson is not new to the ballpark. IronPigs President and General Manager Kurt Landes said in the release that the deal “expands the long-standing relationship between the IronPigs and Lehigh Valley Health Network, which spans nearly 20 seasons.”
The public record does show what the county collects from the ballpark and what it spends on it. At an October 2022 meeting, Commissioner Geoff Brace told the board that the IronPigs pay the county more than $928,000 a year to play there. If the team left, he said, the cost “would come straight out of real estate taxes.”
The board last took up the lease in public at that meeting. Commissioners voted unanimously to commit up to $3 million in American Rescue Plan funds toward roughly $9.5 million in clubhouse, training-room and lighting work that Major League Baseball required as a condition of the Phillies affiliation. The lease was also amended so that if the stadium debt is ever refinanced, the county splits the proceeds with the team.
Commissioner Ron Beitler took his name off the measure as a co-sponsor. “I’m not enthusiastic about this,” he said. “There’s a litany of things that I would rather see rescue plan money go to.”
Allentown City Council voted 4-3 against adding $1.5 million. WFMZ reported that Lehigh County committed $4.5 million in all, Northampton County $200,000, and the state $2 million. In July, commissioners unanimously approved $322,800 to replace rooftop HVAC units at the county-owned ballpark this fall, The Morning Call reported.
The Coca-Cola deal is ending on its original schedule, not because of Jefferson. On Feb. 3, the IronPigs and bottler ABARTA Coca-Cola Beverages announced that the 20-year naming agreement would conclude as planned in September 2027. The deal’s value was never disclosed either. According to Lehigh Valley Public Media, it was the first professional sports venue in the country named specifically for the soft drink.
The February release said ABARTA will remain a founding partner, and Landes said Thursday that Coca-Cola will stay the team’s exclusive beverage provider.
Jefferson CEO Joseph G. Cacchione said the partnership “reflects our commitment to strengthen the communities in which we serve.” Co-owner Joe Finley said the announcement “will have a meaningful impact on the future of our ballpark and team.”