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The Design
As we noted, the beauty of Atrium Health Ballpark isn’t in its exterior. There is a lot to like inside, though.
Smith notes that the leadership team — City Manager Mike Legg, Populous’ Zach Allee, consultant Neumann and himself — toured a lot of ballparks while mulling over how to design their new stadium. He said they visited Fayetteville, Hartford, Lehigh Valley, Reading, Columbia, Augusta, Durham, Charlotte and Atlanta. Since Populous had designed the Braves’ Truist Park, they were able to closely examine such issues as: Why did you decide to use the space that way? Why is the concourse as wide as it is?
When asked what the group learned, Smith laughed and said, “We found out you need a lot of storage, and there is a lot of planning that needs to go into your concession spaces.” Both of these lessons were incorporated into the design of Atrium Health Ballpark. Brown added that his favorite aspect of the new park “is the passageway between the first-base food-prep area and the third-base area without touching the main concourse.”
| Hard working guys |
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| Three guys that spent a lot of time together working on Atrium Health Ballpark. From left, Team Operating Partner Scotty Brown, Populous’ Jason Michael Ford and Deputy City Manager Eddie Smith. |
But all of those are features that the fans don’t see. Smith pointed out these features that the group liked at other parks:
- “We wanted a 360-degree concourse because we really like the one we saw in Lehigh Valley;”
- “We also thought the dugout suites in Lehigh Valley were really cool, but we wanted ours to be more intimate;”
- “Columbia has an outfield bar, so we decided we wanted that, too;”
- “We wanted our park to feel like a neighborhood gathering, like in Reading;”
- “We like the view (beyond the outfield) at a lot of parks, and we decided we wanted to be able to see the Georgian architecture of the Research Campus buildings, so that influenced the orientation of our park.”
There is a lot of nice masonry on the interior of the Cannon Ballers’ park. “We didn’t want the expensive brick on the outside of the park, so we put it on the concourses,” explains Smith.
As you would expect from a Populous-designed ballpark, the concourses are spacious and feature concourse suites between the walkways and the back row of seats. There’s still plenty of room in the concourse to navigate around these “loges.”
The outfield areas represent some clever planning because they provide the team with flexibility, especially post-COVID. For instance, there is a gate in the outer perimeter fence and pads in center field to support food trucks. I just hope that when they do have trucks stationed out in the outfield, the Cannon Ballers do a better job of publicizing them than they do in Rocket City. There is also space for inflatables and other features for kids (in addition to the exceptional playground and splash pad behind third base). And the group areas near the foul poles (the Right Field Terrace and the Wayne Brothers Picnic Area) are really nice.
The highlight of the outfield, though, is the bar (photo above) in RCF that was inspired by the one in Columbia, SC. While there are plenty of parks with see-through bars in the outfield, only here can you actually buy a reserved seat.
The concourse running from third base toward the left-field foul pole is positioned with a variety of food stands that are reminiscent of a county or state fair. This is one of my favorite areas in the park (see photo).
The upper level is really nice — certainly better than your average Low-A ballpark. While I’m not crazy about the pressbox being on the third-base line instead of right behind home plate (Wichita’s pressbox is the nicest of any of the new parks), everything else is perfect. The Sky Lounge is positioned on the third-base end of the upper level. Because there aren’t as many suites as at other parks, this porch isn’t as far down the line (the ones at Las Vegas are pretty darn far down the foul lines).
There are suites behind home plate and “Upper Club” seats in front of the gorgeous 5,600-square-foot Kinetic Club (photo below). That lounge can be used for any sort of gathering when games aren’t going on.
In some respects, the stadium isn’t finished yet, because of all of the structures that will be added just outside the park’s perimeter in right field. For example, the merchandise store behind first base might be moved to a larger, permanent position on the street level of one of those buildings, and the box office will, I believe, move out of the storage container it’s in now and into one of the new buildings.
And as we’ve mentioned, the intimacy of the park will be kicked up several notches when those seven-story structures are completed.
The Essentials
Do you believe in love at first sight? It happened to me when I strolled into Atrium Health Ballpark for the first time. There on the concourse behind home plate was a 1950s-vintage Hammond M3 organ. It was built before circuits generated the sound. No, it was full of tubes producing the warm, beautiful sounds God intended to fill a ballpark.
The Cannon Ballers’ GM Matt Millward felt that the one element the park needed was live organ music, especially with the state-fair vibe during games. “So I tracked one down in a home in Spartanburg, South Carolina,” Millward explains. “Trevor (Wilt, the team’s Broadcaster and Baseball Operations Manager) and I made a five-hour round trip to get it. We bought it for $500, and was it ever worth it.”
With tubes comes weight. I watched as five team employees had to pitch in to lift the organ off of the wheeled cart onto the concourse.
Playing the vintage instrument is Jason Atkins, who goes by the stage name of Greazy Keyz. During hockey season, he plays the organ at Charlotte Checkers games.
I can’t begin to tell you how much nicer the atmosphere is at a baseball game when organ music fills the air.
The organ wasn’t the only benefit of having the park’s first game pushed back a year by the pandemic. “If there was a silver lining from 2020, it was that we got used to ballpark,” says Brown.
This allowed the team to learn the working of its food-preparation capabilities, get merchandise figured out, and start to set up the game-day experience it would present to fans in 2021. “We decided we wanted to create a fun, circus-like atmosphere,” Brown adds. “We wanted our colors to be red, blue — so it’s patriotic — with a little bit of yellow, to make it feel like a circus.”
Indeed, it is a festive, not-too-serious atmosphere (Wichita, with your serious approach to the gameday experience, are you listening?). I would term it more like a state fair than a circus, especially when you see the kiosks lined up along the third-base concourse selling concessions you’d picture eating at a Midwestern state fair.
Complementing the festive, playful atmosphere is someone who’s last name is quite fitting: Blair Jewell. She is the on-field hostess, leading fans in between-innings promotions and contests. Her touch wasn’t too serious or too frivolous. It was exactly right for a Minor League Baseball game.
So what does it cost to attend a game? Parking on the grass lot on the third-base side of the park is $5. In the three sections directly behind the backstop, seats are $14. The rest of the reserved seats in the main seating bowl are $12. On Fridays and Saturdays, these tickets are $1 higher.
Club seats on the upper level, which include access to the sprawling Kinetic Club and a full buffet, are $35. As mentioned, a popular option is the outfield bar, which offers reserved seats (see photo). They are $11 apiece, $12 on Fridays and Saturdays. General admission tickets, which allow you to sit on the left-field berm or simply wander the ballpark, are $10.
On holidays and major promotion days, prices are higher. Perhaps best of all, if you buy a preprinted ticket, they look like carnival tickets. Very appropriate touch.
For groups of 20 or more, there are plenty of options. The Right Field Terrace in the right-field corner has tables and chairs, and a buffet is included. Seats are $31. The corresponding area in the left-field corner (photo below) costs $25. Food is included here, too.
A group of 50 can rent out the Sky Lounge on the upper level on the third-base side, and the Dugout Suite — right next to where the pro players sit — features room for 40.
There are also Loge Boxes — that I would refer to as “concourse suites” — on the concourses on both the first-base and third-base sides. They can hold 14 and cost $195 to rent. This doesn’t include food, but you have an option to add a catered dinner if you wish.
Speaking of food, the concession options weren’t off the charts — there’s no one outlandish, crazy food item on the menu — but I would say the variety was certainly sufficient. And I felt the prices were in line. On the Salsa Cart is Super Nachos ($9), taco salad ($9) and two street tacos for $6. At the Popcorn Cart is, of course, popcorn ($3), caramel apples ($3) and cotton candy ($4). At the Burgers cart, you can get a Baller Basket with a freshly made hamburger, chips, cookie and a bottle of soda or water for $11.
At a cart with goodies, there are the ubiquitous Dippin’ Dots ($5), soft pretzels ($5) and kettle corn $6). At Boomer’s Grill cart, there are Philly cheesesteaks (beef or chicken) with chips for $9, and a hot dog for a reasonable $4.
The permanent stands behind the main seating bowl feature burgers for $5, chicken tenders for $5, a slice of pizza for $4 and, yes, a plant-based burger for $5.
And in case you were wondering, this is a Pepsi ballpark … but since it’s in North Carolina, you can also get Cheerwine and Mountain Dew.
The team store is behind first base, and is full of bright-blue and bright-red merchandise. I have to admit that the logo didn’t grab me when it was first released in October 2019, but it has certainly grown on me. The prices seem reasonable compared to other parks I’ve visited. Men’s t-shirts range from $20-$28, with an Inaugural Season Shirt (that says 2021, not 2020 like at other parks!) is $28. I didn’t spot any polo shirts for men, but there was a Columbia button-down fishing shirt for $65. There weren’t very many women’s t-shirts, but the ones I saw were $25. Kids’ tees ranged from $18-$30, while their caps are $16 and $20.
Adult adjustable caps are $25 and $28, while fitted caps are $35 and $38.
And I’m overjoyed that they had two different styles of lapel pins in stock. I’m still disappointed the Trash Pandas, with the biggest selling merchandise in the Minors, didn’t have any.
But speaking of that, Brown was happy to report that “in 2020, our red cap with the logo was number one in sales in all of Minor League Baseball.”
And as is the case at every new park — and plenty of old ones — all transactions are cashless.
The mascot is nicknamed Boomer (get it?) and is decked out just like in the logo: with racing helmet, goggles and Dale Earnhardt-style mustache.
The electronic side of the endeavor — the sound system and videoboard in left-center field — is state of the art. The Cannon Ballers subscribe to the minimalist notion that more stats and info could be shown on the scoreboard, but that just junks things up. Therefore, they keep things pretty simple.
Overall, I’d say the gameday experience is fairly affordable and a great amount of fun. And it’s a cannon blast away from aging, isolated Intimidators Stadium.
Summary
Rich Neumann, the consultant who helped guide the city of Kannapolis through some of the trickiest phases of its planning for a ballpark, returned to Kannapolis for Opening Night on May 4. What did he think? “It turned out great, because it accomplished exactly what Kannapolis wanted. They wanted a catalyst for development in the center of their city, and this does that.”
Eddie Smith, the Deputy City Manager, says, “The Intimidators attracted about 150,000 fans in a good year. The city estimated that we’d have 250,000 a year in a new downtown ballpark.” That would accomplish the goal of bringing a lot more people to the city’s center.
Not only that, “We now consider ourselves the entertainment and recreation capital of the Charlotte area.”
As fans entered Atrium Health Park prior for the first Cannon Ballers game on May 4, 2021, ushers were there to greet each entering fan with “Have a blast!”
That’s easy to do here.
Tell us what you think of this review or of Atrium Health Ballpark in the comments box below.