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| This was the scene following the on-field ceremony where the 20th Annual BaseballParks.com Ballpark of the Year was presented to Las Vegas Ballpark on August 3, 2019. From left: Aviators President and COO Don Logan; representing team owner The Howard Hughes Corporation Kevin Orrock, President of Summerlin; architect firm HOK’s Devin Norton, the Project Designer for the park; Joe Mock, BaseballParks.com; Cliff Cole of Penta; Duane Sanchez of Hunt Construction Group. Photo by Steve Spatafore, Las Vegas Aviators |
This article originally appeared in USA TODAY Sports Weekly on 7/31/19. It is reproduced by permission
Text and photos by Joe Mock. All rights reserved
When teams open a new ballpark, they expect higher attendance figures. The new parks of 2019, though, have ushered in crowds that are truly astonishing.
The games being played in this year’s new facilities represent quite a diversity of the sport’s levels, including Major League spring training, Triple-A, Double-A, Advanced-A and two in the independent leagues. And one of them is the Ballpark of the Year, as named by BaseballParks.com, an affiliate site of USA TODAY.
BRAVE NEW WORLD
The first new ballpark to open this year was CoolToday Park in North Port, Florida. It’s the spring-training home of the Atlanta Braves.
Due to fears that the complex wouldn’t be complete in time for the beginning of Spring Training, the Braves elected to play only their final Florida exhibition game there. But even with that small sample size, the contest on March 24 provided the team with great optimism that their new springtime home will be warmly embraced, as the game sold out in less than two hours.
The Braves elected to move out of Disney World, their spring home since 1998, because the facilities there were no longer state-of-the-art, plus the bus rides to exhibitions were becoming longer as other teams moved farther away.
The new complex in the southern portion of Sarasota County “is almost like a setting in Arizona, where we’re so close to the other clubs we play,” observed Chip Moore, the Braves’ Executive Vice President. He added that the ballpark at the heart of the complex “was really designed for the fan, that’s for darn sure,” with multiple hospitality areas and great access to Braves players.
SOD POODLES’ PALACE
The second park to make its debut was Hodgetown, the home of the Amarillo Sod Poodles of the Double-A Texas League.
After failing to obtain a new ballpark in San Antonio, the franchise moved to the northern panhandle of Texas. The City of Amarillo offered an outstanding site for the stadium to be constructed, near a renovated portion of downtown. “This was one of the better sites we’ve worked on,” noted Mike Sabatini, Lead Project Designer for the Populous architecture firm. “We were able to get everything we wanted on the site.”
Dubbed Hodgetown after longtime Amarillo businessman Jerry Hodge, the stadium features a striking entry rotunda with art-deco design elements and suites on the upper level, on the concourse and next to the backstop.
In their final year in San Antonio, the franchise averaged 4,885 fans per game. Since the Sod Poodles opening day of April 8, the team is averaging 6,307, second in the league to perennial attendance champ Frisco.
HIGHER ELEVATION AND BIGGER CROWDS
The day after the first game in Amarillo, Las Vegas Ballpark opened. The facility’s name isn’t generic. It’s actually a corporate sponsorship name, purchased by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for $80 million spread over 20 years.
The modern stadium was built by The Howard Hughes Corporation, owners of the Triple-A franchise and developers of the area known as Summerlin. This 25,000 acres of land was originally acquired by Howard Hughes himself in 1952, but it remained undeveloped until the corporation bearing Hughes’ name created the planned community. Today it is home to over 100,000 residents as well as an upscale stadium hosting the team now known as the Las Vegas Aviators.
The park’s concessions are one way the Aviators cater to the sophistication of its fans. Highlights include the FLYDOG, a collection of hotdogs created by local celebrity chef Brian Howard, and Aviator Ale, custom brewed for the park by Tenaya Creek Brewery. “Both are among our top sellers,” said Sarah Camarota, the park’s Hospitality Experience Curator. She adds that the facility has become a “social hub for our community. We could not be more thrilled with our fans’ enjoyment and engagement with our signature hospitality.”
Summerlin’s elevation is 1,046 feet higher than the team’s former home at Cashman Field, not far from the Las Vegas Strip. Combining the new stadium’s mesh seats with the higher elevation means greater comfort for fans – and blockbuster attendance figures. After finishing 14th in the 16-team Pacific Coast League in attendance last year, the Aviators lead all of Minor League Baseball by a wide margin this season, averaging 9,377 per game.
COMBINING BASEBALL AND THE MILITARY
Major League Baseball deemed it quite a success when it staged a one-game event at a temporary stadium in Fort Bragg, NC in 2016. The military base is on the outskirts of Fayetteville, which had lost its Minor League franchise following the 2000 season.
So the timing and geography were right for the market to land the Houston Astros’ Carolina League franchise, which was in need of a permanent home. The team played two seasons at nearby Campbell University, waiting for the completion of Segra Stadium in downtown Fayetteville.
The ballpark, which opened April 18, is perfectly wedged into an oddly shaped parcel of land. It features numerous military themes, with army transport vehicles at its entrance, lots of camo-covered souvenirs and a high-end lounge dedicated to veterans.
Playing as the Buies Creek Astros at the college facility, the team averaged 433 fans per game in 2017-18. So far this season, the renamed Fayetteville Woodpeckers are flying high at 3,572 per contest. “We’re running ahead of all of the benchmarks we set on ticket sales, merchandise sales and sponsorship sales,” notes team president Mark Zarthar.
ROCKING IN FURNITURE COUNTRY
The first-year franchise in High Point, North Carolina certainly coined a top-shelf nickname for its team in the heart of the furniture-manufacturing belt: The Rockers. The first game in its new park, dubbed BB&T Point, was May 2.
The team took the place of a squad called the Road Warriors in the standings of the independent Atlantic League. Considering the Warriors played all of their games on the road in 2018, the Rockers’ average home crowd in furniture country of 2,173 is a rockin’ step forward.
DELIVERING THE MILK
The Milwaukee Milkmen are another first-year independent-league team, and they hoped to be in their new stadium on May 24. Instead, construction setbacks in the Milwaukee suburb of Franklin kept the team away until the delayed opener on June 24. Since then, they’ve averaged 1,611 fans per game.
ROC (Return On Community) Ventures owns the team and built the park. True to the company’s name, ROC converted a landfill into a bustling sports complex for the community, and $20-million Routine Field is at its heart. Currently under construction next door is Ballpark Commons, a mixed-use development with residential, retail and offices.
“There are 1.3 million people within 20 minutes of the ballpark,” notes team owner Mike Zimmerman. “I think it’s going to be wildly successful. I’m really excited about it.”
AND THE WINNER IS …
Las Vegas Ballpark, with its skyrocketing attendance and thoroughly modern architecture, is the winner of the 20th annual BaseballParks.com Ballpark of the Year (read the press release here).
“We love making baseball history with Las Vegas Ballpark and are thrilled to receive this merit-based award. It’s truly a winning stadium that is setting a new standard for professional baseball nationwide,” says the Aviators’ President and COO Don Logan.
The scene shown in the photo at the top of this article was taken at the ceremony where the award was presented to the Aviators, their owners and the architect. None of the photos in this online version of the article appeared in USA TODAY Sports Weekly.
Mock reported from Amarillo, TX; Fayetteville and High Point, NC; Franklin, WI; Las Vegas, NV; and North Port, FL. He operates BaseballParks.com, an affiliate of USA TODAY Sports Digital Properties. He has visited all 203 parks currently used for Major League, spring training and affiliated Minor League baseball.