Interior of AutoZone Baseball Park, Memphis, TN

Contributed by ServiceMaster by Stratos.

In the heart of Downtown Memphis sits the No. 2 best minor league ballpark in the country, according to Baseball America: AutoZone Park. Boasting state-of-the-art features with classic, neo-traditional style, the stadium seats 10,000 fans including a level with 48 suites, an open-air party deck and a grassy lawn area for picnicking.

Hosting 72 AAA-baseball games a year, countless large-scale events like the St. Jude Memphis Marathon and even a few weddings brings big responsibility for AutoZone Park’s management team to maintain the park’s appearance at a high-level. Furthermore, its gates are open to the public most days of the year, so a potential customer could walk through at any time to ask for a tour of the facility.

“We know that from a sporting event to a formal business dinner or Christmas party, they’re going to be able to provide us with the level and quality of staffing to meet the needs for any one of those events.”

When the St. Louis Cardinals organization finalized the purchase of the Memphis Redbirds and its lease of AutoZone Park in 2014, it had some housekeeping to do. (Pun intended.) ServiceMaster by Stratos was already a part of the existing maintenance team, as the contracted janitorial service provider for the facility’s office spaces, but knowing well what it takes to maintain the professional experience of the park 24/7, Craig Unger, general manager of the Memphis Redbirds, asked ServiceMaster by Stratos to step up to the plate and expand their services to include the entire facility.

During baseball season, ServiceMaster by Stratos service partners are relied upon heavily because the stadium has to be turned over in a limited amount of time. The typical series lasts five consecutive days, which requires strategic planning and execution to have the stadium ready within hours after a game, particularly if a matinee matchup is being held the following day.

Also, service partners step up to the unique cleaning challenges of each event at the park. On game nights with fireworks, cleaning can become especially tedious for the service partners who go above and beyond by removing the tiny pieces of scrap material off the 100,000 square feet of outfield grass.

“Our cleaning happens at night, so we have to be able to trust that the job is going to be done and the building is going to be ready the next day. Having great communication with Chris, Stacy and their managers and the ability to ask for more help if we need it, like on a night when we sell a lot of tickets at the last minute, is very beneficial. They’re also very concerned with service and making sure all of our needs are being met.”

In all, Craig’s team must instill a high level of trust in its cleaning service partner for the park because the majority of the work takes place after the Redbirds staff is gone. And, according to Craig, getting the job done right, in a timely manner and with flexibly to meet the needs of the Redbirds organization have always been what has elevated ServiceMaster by Stratos above the rest.