Summer and baseball go hand-in-glove. And Kenai’s own Peninsula Oilers baseball team has been a summertime grand slam for more than 50 years.
But for the first time ever, the team suspended its 2025 season because of financial difficulties.
“I think the organization was realizing the position we were in,” said Diana Tice, executive assistant for the Peninsula Oilers. She says the suspension was a disappointment because last year’s game attendance had been growing.
“It was really hard to let go after that momentum, but without the gaming and without another source of income, it just felt like it was the right thing to do. To try and figure out how this organization exists without gaming,” Tice said.
The gaming Tice is referring to isn’t baseball. It’s bingo and pull tabs. The organization runs a year-round bingo and pull tabs hall in Old Town Kenai, which generates about 55% of the team’s annual revenue.
But Tice says the organization’s gaming revenue dropped significantly in 2023 and 2024, and she’s not sure why.
“It sort of baffles me," Tice said. "Our attendance would go from 50, 60 people, down to the mid 30s. And then when we started seeing only 20 people attending bingo, it couldn't sustain itself. So we had to whittle down that operation.”
Tice has a few theories about why the bingo hall participation has waned: the impacts of inflation and pandemic era concerns. And she suspects some players patronized another gambling arcade in Kenai, which shut down in 2023.
But Tice says the Oilers’ suspension won’t just impact baseball fans.
The team recruits college baseball players each summer from around the country. Tice says those players, and visiting teams, contribute to the local economy when they spend money at Kenai businesses. Team members’ family and friends also visit the area, which Tice says is beneficial to the Kenai Peninsula’s economy.
“So I think there's a significant impact on the tourism up here," Tice said. "The hotels, the restaurants, the fishing guides. When you've got that many people from out of state coming just for baseball, it bleeds over.”
Tice says she’s worried the team may lose connections with colleges they recruit from because of the suspended season. But she says other Alaska Baseball League teams have rebounded after taking a year off for similar reasons. For now, the team will rely more on fundraising and sponsorships to make up for lost revenue.
She’s hopeful the Peninsula Oilers will be back next year.
“It's hard to stay engaged and inspired at the moment, but I think the fact that we're not playing baseball this summer is reinvigorating us,” Tice said.
In the meantime, Tice says their field is hosting other baseball groups, like Kenai Central High School’s baseball team. And until the Oilers are back on their feet, the field on Tinker Lane will still be a place to bat around.
