This is the second of a four-part series celebrating the Greenville Drive’s 20th anniversary season.
To the untrained eye, the Greenville Drive is simply a minor league baseball team with a really cool ballpark.
But scratch the surface and you’ll discover a deep well of interconnected partnerships working in harmony to produce something far more impactful — a place where the community gathers to lift one another up and celebrate what makes the Upstate special.
The dynamics of those partnerships begin with the Drive’s affiliation with the Boston Red Sox, among the most successful franchises in baseball. Over the past 20 years the Drive/Red Sox partnership has produced 120 major-league players, a primary reason the Red Sox remain so committed to the Drive’s success.
Then there’s the public-private partnership with the city of Greenville, which has been key to the phenomenal development of Greenville’s West End neighborhood ever since the Drive privately built Fluor Field in 2006.
Related: Greenville Drive is in the business of community
Since then, both for-profit and nonprofit organizations have partnered with the Drive, serving countless individuals in ways that expand far beyond sports and entertainment. Using Fluor Field as a “front porch,” they celebrate and serve the community through vital education, health and wellness, and cultural initiatives.
According to Drive President Jeff Brown, the glue holding all these successful partnerships together is the fans.
“Our fans are the reason we exist and why we remain committed to delivering the best and most affordable experience in all of sports,” Brown said. “Together with our fans and partners we have accomplished so much over the past 20 years. We look forward to making an even greater impact in the years ahead.”
