The first full season of minor league baseball in Madison slammed, financially speaking, a home run.

Rocket City Trash Pandas General Manager Garrett Fahrmann told the city council Monday the team would be making a payment of more than $1.4 million to the city – exceeding its annual obligation to the city by 40 percent.

The Trash Pandas owes the city annual payments of at least $1 million as a key piece of revenue for the city to recoup its $46 million investment in building Toyota Field, the home stadium of the Double-A baseball team.

It’s also an increase over what the Trash Pandas paid back to the city last year when the team paid more than $1.24 million to the city.

“It takes a lot to get to that number,” Fahrmann said. “And we’re happy with it, having the first full season and having it come out to $1.4 (million). And we’re looking to continue growing that number.”

The city’s annual audit of ballpark revenue also revealed no issues, auditor Adam Nelson told the city council.

Fahrmann told the council that the team would paying $1,403,115 from baseball and non-baseball revenue at the stadium. It’s the third straight year payments to the city have increased as the restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic fade. For 2020 – a year originally planned to be the first for the Trash Pandas but the pandemic led to the season being canceled – the team paid the city about $622,000.

That number doubled for 2021 and, year over year, went up 12½ percent for 2022.

The Trash Pandas had 138 games scheduled in 2022 and the same number this year with the season beginning April 6. In addition to the minor league baseball games, Fahrmann recapped other events held at Toyota Field in 2022 – including the Christmas Spectacular, ballpark fair, the college football game between Jacksonville State and North Alabama, college and high school baseball games and a splashdown party for unmanned Artemis I’s return from the moon.

Events planned for 2023 include both Auburn and Alabama playing baseball games at Toyota Field, a return of the ballpark fair and Christmas Spectacular and the first Smoke in the Outfield BBQ Festival.

The plan is for the Trash Pandas to make an even larger payment to the city next year, Fahrmann said.

“That’s kind of what we do,” he said. “We don’t circle the wagons. We proved that in 2020 (after the season was canceled). We go for it. I mean, all right, we did $1.4 (million). Now what can we do. I hope we can continue to grow that. You never know what the economy (is going to do). No one thought in 2020 we wouldn’t have been playing, either. There are no guarantees but we set high standards for ourselves and we’re going to go for it.”