ONT Field – page 2

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The Design

So here’s the architectural assignment: you have a fairly flat site free of other buildings or geological features to work around, with ample acreage to work with so the building need not feel cramped.

And it needs to have an airport theme.

If the designers do everything right, you end up with ONT Field. Exactly.

When the design process was in its early stages, Brett Sports still owned the franchise that would become the Tower Buzzers. Bobby Brett was in all of the discussions about what the ballpark should look like. “The three of us — the city, architects and team — worked together really well to produce what we think ended up being the best-in-class stadium that we are all incredibly proud of,” he remarked.

Since it’s the new standards (regarding player spaces) that caused the musical chairs that cost Modesto a franchise and gained one for Ontario, let’s start our discussion there.

The ground floor of the ballpark is where you’ll find all of the player facilities — except the batting cages mentioned in our last section. I’ve had the opportunity to tour a lot of clubhouses, but the layout in Ontario is the nicest I’ve seen in the Minors. There are several reasons for this, explained Kornegay. In an attempt to “future-proof” the facilities, there was an intentional effort to make the facilities bigger and better than the current standards require. For instance, the weight room is 50% bigger than what the PDL mandates. Also, the PDL suggests that new and renovated parks move toward “equity” between the home and visitor spaces. And as more women join the ranks of umpires, trainers and coaches, there are designated spaces for them.

Speaking of coaches, I got to meet the manager of the Tower Buzzers, John Shoemaker. “Shoe,” as he’s lovingly called, is a legend in the Dodgers organization, having served in a variety of capacities for the past 49 years. The 69 year old showed me his office (see photo) — the nicest he’s had in the Minors, he said — but he was happier that his coaches and players have such nice spaces in the new park. “You know, the good thing about baseball is that you see things you’ve never seen before,” and he’d never seen ballpark facilities as nice as these.

Indeed, the space where the Tower Buzzers eat and relax (see below), the clubhouse itself, where they work out and lift weights, where the trainers work, even where their families wait for them after games, are all spacious and first-rate. The Dodgers were consulted every step of the way, because, after all, it’s their Minor Leaguers using all of this.

The visitor side is almost as nice.

And in planning ahead, there’s even an auxiliary clubhouse so if, say, two college or high school teams are playing a game here, there will be two locker rooms that can be used without touching the Tower Buzzers’ area.

“ONT Field is second to none, not only as an unforgettable destination for fans, but as a first-class environment for player development,” noted Peter Freund, the CEO of Diamond Baseball Holdings.

Of course, these player areas are rarely seen by fans, so what is it like one story up on the main-concourse level? The answer: every bit as nice, if not nicer.

One aspect of ONT Field that is inescapable is the spaciousness of everything — the entry plaza behind first base, the concourses, the concession areas, the playground, the flight cabins (their cute name for concourse suites on the third-base side — see below), the area where fans view players in the batting tunnels, etc. You never feel cramped. “From our very first visit during construction, this park has always felt bigger than it actually is, while maintaining its intimacy,” noted Populous’ Ford.

There is even a room behind home plate called Legends’ Attic where upscale souvenirs and autographed items are sold. It’s amazing how this ballpark lacks for nothing.

Obviously, in a baseball stadium of this caliber, there is a 360-degree concourse, but the outfield walkway here is anything but an afterthought. The long, straight stretch from the left-field foul pole toward center field is actually painted to be a runway, complete with lights embedded in the concrete that are activated when there is a home run. Beyond left center is a mammoth area for kids dubbed The Airfield, with an elaborate splashpad and a good half acre of next-level playground equipment. Plus beyond the right-field corner is a wiffle-ball field, which Hiramoto said is her favorite spot in the park. “I love to see that fully activated because it brings me a lot of joy seeing the future of baseball in these children.”

This is the very rare Minor League park without inflatables. With all of these areas for kids, such an area is absolutely unnecessary.

In straight-away center field is one of the most endearing areas of ONT Field. The Baggage Hall features some of the best eating and drinking in the park (specifics in the next section). It’s the design of the place that is astonishing. If you’ve flown into California airports — particularly ones in Bakersfield (previously) and Burbank (even today) and, until 1998, at Ontario! — you’ve noticed that the belts on which you collect your checked luggage are outdoors. They are covered, but open to the elements. It’s uncanny how much this structure in center field resembles this kind of baggage-claim area. Plus in the area surrounding the bar there appear to be conveyor belts that would carry suitcases (see the photo at the top of our Essentials section below).

This is a level of cleverness that you just don’t see in sports facilities. Not only that, just outside of this food hall is a real (decommissioned) baggage tractor that appears to be pulling a cart full of unclaimed suitcases. More on these (and the “Easter eggs” they contain) in our Summary section below.

If you visit ONT Field during the 2026 season, you will notice a huge project under construction beyond the right field concourse. This will be a restaurant with its entry on the street-side of the ballpark. However, when you are dining in it, you’ll be able to view the playing field. Even better, it will have an “observation tower” on top of it, with a bar and a spectacular view of the ballpark’s interior. I can’t wait to come back here to check out this establishment.

By the way, when this restaurant opens, I predict it — especially its observation deck — will become one of the most iconic, recognizable features in any Minor League ballpark.

Another iconic element of the ballpark is a bar on the main concourse directly behind home plate. It’s called the Hard Deck Bar, which was the name of the hang-out for the fighter pilots in “Top Gun.” It’s not enclosed, like a lounge. No, it’s open on two sides — nearest the field exclusively for patrons sitting in Hard Deck seats (see photo below) behind the backstop and on the opposite side for fans walking along the concourse. The Bretts still owned the franchise while planning for the new Ontario park was commencing. Bobby Brett loved the thought of a bar that is open on two sides. “We are really proud of that,” he said. In fact, when the architects saw how nicely this bar turned out, “they told us that whenever we do a new ballpark, we’re going to incorporate this into it.”

To this day, the Tower Buzzers’ staff refers informally to this spot as Bobby’s Bar.

Before we move to the park’s upper level, a few words about the seating bowl. Today’s new parks below the Majors are no longer built with dozens of rows of seats. The modern-day thinking is that fans don’t want this. No longer are parks built like, say, Indianapolis or Buffalo, with row after row. Fans want more flexibility in seating types, with picnic tables (plentiful in ONT Field’s left field corner) and “four tops” being what’s in demand. Beyond customer demand, MLB has greatly relaxed requirements on seating capacities (for example, it used to be mandatory that Triple-A parks be able to accommodate at least 10,000 fans). This means that new parks don’t have to be built with lots of seats that rarely get sold.

Here in Ontario, there are only 4,453 fixed seats. Should Ontario have the opportunity to move up to Double-A or Triple-A one day, they wouldn’t necessarily need to add thousands more seats, like happened in Round Rock when they moved from the Texas League (Double-A) to the Pacific Coast League (Triple-A) in 2005. More recently, when Sugar Land and St. Paul moved from indy ball to Triple-A, they weren’t required to add to their seating capacity.

So the number of seats — and consequently the relatively small number of rows — should suffice for ONT Field well into the future … but there are ways that bigger crowds could be accommodated if the number of sellouts climbs. But for now, with a maximum of 14 rows, there is a very nice feeling of intimacy, despite the actual spaciousness of the facility.

The relaxing of the rules regarding seat counts “really lets us right-size the venues to the community they are in,” noted Kornegay.

By the way, in addition to the picnic tables in the left-field corner and four-tops by the right-field foul pole, there are fixed seats along the top of the left-field and right-center-field walls. There is grassy berm in right field, and very nicely terraced areas closer to the foul pole. I really like this design.

The upper level is also well-planned. The enormous Morongo VIP Flight Club is directly behind home plate, and it won’t surprise you to learn that the furnishings and bar in its center (above) look right out of a 1960s airport lounge (Janet Marie Smith created this vibe in a speakeasy within Dodger Stadium, by the way). In front of it are six sections of seats, each with four rows. This is truly a premium “club” area.

There are 11 luxury suites (“flight suites”) down the first-base line of the upper level. Ten of them accommodate 16 fans, while the party suite on the end can hold 32. On the third-base side is the press and production area (a good bit nicer than most new Minor League parks), and on the end is the LiUNA! Lounge, a party deck that accommodates groups of up to 60 fans.

Finally, there are two dugout suites behind the third-base on-deck circle (above). Each can accommodate 24 fans, or the two can be combined by a single group with 48 participants. These are closer to home plate than the home team’s dugout. Noted Benavides, “There is no experience like this anywhere in Southern California.” That includes the three Major League parks and the various venues in the Minors.

The mixture of group areas and individual seats makes great sense for this market. Of course, there was years of data that the team could reference from a similar market in Rancho Cucamonga. “The results are a victory for collaboration, with a true team approach bringing together ideas from the city, Brett Sports, DBH, the Tower Buzzers’ front office and the entire design team,” observed Ford. “We made all of these ideas work together, seamlessly, which was the hard part. Seeing the finished ballpark and the fans’ reactions validated it did in fact work.”

 Making it happen so well took a lot of planning. And $135 million from the city’s taxpayers.

But it was well spent. Very, very well spent.

Now let’s see what it’s like to attend a game at ONT Field.

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The Essentials

If you fly a lot, you might not be fond of the time you have to spend in airports. Rest assured it’s a lot more enjoyable — and affordable — at ONT Field.

So let’s look at the gameday experience when you come to Ontario to see the Tower Buzzers.

If you drive, you’ll most likely park in the adjacent parking garage. That costs $15, regardless of the day of the week.

Ticket prices, though, aren’t nearly as cut and dried as the parking. That’s because the team utilizes “dynamic ticket pricing,” plus “for how small a capacity this venue has, there’s a huge variety of seating options,” Kornegay noted.

“Having affordable entry pricing into our games is a core value for our team,” Ortega said. As for the different prices for different games, “It’s a similar model as when you look to book a hotel or an airplane.” More desirable dates have higher rates.

But that presents a challenge in succinctly summarizing the pricing structure (because there can be multiple prices on seats in the same row, not to mention different amounts depending on the day of the week), but let’s give it a try. Note that the prices listed include any fees, as California’s “honest pricing” law requires. Also, I’m rounding to the nearest dollar.

The most expensive seats on the main level are the Hard Deck Boxes, which are really pieces of furniture in a defined space. There are only 130 of these spots right in front of the Hard Deck Bar, and they cost anywhere from $35-$50 per person. In front of these are the Homeplate VIP seats, which range from $26-$41. Behind the dugouts, seats run $22-$32. Beyond the dugouts, it’s $15-$22. The price for seats on the front row (when available) is higher.

Along the top of the left-field wall, tickets range from $9-$16. Note these are actual seats, not bleachers. The Left Field Landing seats have a countertop in front of you (photo above). Benavides, by the way, says this is his favorite place in the park to watch a game. Those tickets are $14-$21. In right center, the seats are $8-$15. Each seat at the four-top tables in the right-field corner are $25-$40 — and each table has it’s own electrical outlet! If you want to sit on the lawn — or just want a get-me-in ticket — they are an extremely reasonable $7-$14.

On the upper level, you can buy a season ticket in the Morongo Club (which includes truly upscale food and a special season-ticket-holder jacket) for $3,765 with a one-year commitment. For such luxury surroundings, the average cost of $57.00 per game is very reasonable. Note you’ll save if you make a three- or five-year commitment.

The 11 luxury “flight suites” are (no surprise) spacious, and like most areas within this park, the team limits the number of them that could be purchased on a season-long basis. That is so suites would be available to book for a single night. Note that unlike most parks, there aren’t rows of tiered seating in front of the suite. It is more like patio furniture on a balcony, a la Amarillo.

But here is perhaps the best deal in the Minors: come to see the Tower Buzzers on a Wednesday. On “Feria Wednesdays,” all reserved seats in the main seating bowl beyond the dugouts are only $7 when purchased online. “We want to show that the best stadium in Minor League Baseball is for everybody. We’re making sure everyone can enjoy it,” said Ortega. “And we take it one level beyond that, because we shoot fireworks on Wednesday nights. We deliver a premium experience for those folks who come in on a value ticket.”

All in all, the cost of attending a Tower Buzzers game is quite reasonable, especially when you consider this is  Southern California, one of the most exorbitantly expensive areas in the country.

The food-and-beverage vendor here is Legends, which has a relationship with a number of other Diamond Baseball Holdings franchises. As you might suspect, the food served in the Morongo VIP Flight Club on the upper level is truly exceptional. In the photo, culinary director Daly Cruz is showing off the finely prepared selections for that day, which included poke tuna, calamari and a special chicken salad on rye. Honestly, the food was to die for.

When I asked Cruz how he likes preparing dishes using the high-end kitchen equipment here, he said “I feel like a five year old kid at Disneyland.”

But the variety, quality and affordability on the main level are well above average for a sports venue, too. Behind the main seating bowl are two walk-in stands where you select your items and then pay for them at kiosks. This really helps managing lines.

Behind first base is Tommy’s Grab & Go, perhaps a nod to the Dodger’s legendary manager Tommy Lasorda. There’s a little bit of an Italian theme here, with hot Italian beef and hot pastrami sandwiches for $14, an Italian grinder for $10 and garlic knots for $12.

There is a similar self-serve stand on the third-base side with a very special name: Littleton’s, named for the historic ballpark in Ontario that burned down in 2024.

Farther down the third-base line is a popular pizza and wings stand, and a Mexican-themed bar called El Patio Aviones (which is “airplanes” in English, which makes sense since it is right along the concourse painted like a runway). Visible from just about everywhere in the ballpark is The Landing next to the batter’s eye. It’s an ice cream stand featuring 14 flavors, where it costs only $5 for a cone or a cup.

“The ice cream parlor being next to the playground is not an accident,” chuckled Benavides.

But it’s behind The Landing where much of the concession magic is located. In the Baggage Hall behind the bar (that resembles baggage claim at an airport) are four different food stands. Here you’ll find Batter Up Bird, with Nashville chicken bites for $13, a crispy chicken sandwich for $14 and, best of all, loaded buffalo chicken fries for $15. Ballpark Bao has Asian fusion tacos ($10, $11 or $12), Diamond Sliders with smashed Angus or turkey sliders for $14, and Pegasus Mediterranean Cafe, which was closed when I was there.

The food at ONT Field is varied and, for a ballpark, reasonably priced.

Not enough is said about the sounds of sports facilities. Just like at the Tower Buzzers’ parent in Chavez Ravine, there is a live organist in Ontario. I can’t say enough about how a ballpark needs more organ music and less hip hop and Country. Performing when I was there was Matt Politano, a professional pianist in the area. Listening to his playing throughout the park was heavenly.

If you enter through the ARRIVALS GATE A entryway — an act Kornegay calls “your big arrival moment” — just to your right is the The Buzz Shop. At the risk of piling onto the tall mound of aviation puns here, it is no understatement that merchandise — both Tower Buzzers and Dodgers — is flying off the shelves.

While not quite as many as in Salt Lake City, the assortment of caps is astonishing. Adjustable adult caps ranged from $38-$48, while fitted models are $40-$60. There’s an attractive unisex cap that’s yellow that’s $33. There are lots of t-shirts at $20, but they range up to $42. Kids’ caps are $15-$25, and most tees are $15.

Men’s polos by OT really caught my eye. They have two gorgeous styles for $85.

But by far the showstopper in the store in my opinion are the Buzzers jerseys. For kids they are $150 and for adults $160, but that includes customizing a name and number on the back. Sure, you could put your own name and favorite number on it, but you also have the option of putting Ohtani or Freeman or any player on it for no additional charge. That is mind-blowing to me.

And I always have to give a plug for the souvenir item I collect everywhere I go: lapel pins. They have three (!) styles, each for the reasonable price of $7.

There is so much to like in their store. But in perhaps the only criticism I can make about anything in this ballpark, I wish The Buzz Shop was bigger.

While ONT Field is by no means an attempt to create a scaled-down Dodger Stadium, there are a lot of Dodger touches here. It’s unmistakable that the scoreboard in left field has the distinctive six-sided shape of the two video boards above Dodger Stadium’s pavilions, while there are a lot of Dodger greats on the walls along the main concourse as well as the hallway from the clubhouse to the dugout on the bottom level. “The artwork really is Dodgers-focused,” said Kornegay. “That’s because it’s aspirational. If you’re playing there in Ontario, that is your purpose, to do good work, play good ball and get called up.”

He adds that his “favorite high-impact thing in the park is the Fernando Valenzuela mural. It is incredible. It’s massive in scale, and it’s really beautifully done. It resonates with Southern California in a way that no one else could. (Fernandomania) was a real cultural moment for baseball in California.” The mural is down the third-base line. It’s shown below with Populous’ Kornegay and Ford in front of it. The mural artist is the exceptionally talented Jonas Never .

The artwork is just one aspect of the incredibly nice touches here. For one thing, staff are dressed in aviation attire — pilots at the entry to the Morongo Club, baggage handlers handing out programs, flight attendants working in the main lobby, you get the idea. Ortega particularly likes “how we’ve brought the local aviation heritage to life. Our ushers really bring the theme home dressed as full-fledged flight crew/pilots to guide fans through the experience.”

If you’re going to have a theme in your park, you might as well go all the way.

The front office goes all the way in providing special events for ticket holders as well. For instance, former Dodger greats are appearing at the park to sign autographs and reminisce with fans. The night I attended, Steve Sax made a personal appearance. I asked him what he thought of ONT Field. “This plays like a Major League-quality field. When I was in A-ball, the parks felt like a rickety wooden roller coaster.”

There are even activities outside the ballpark, which isn’t typical at all at Minor League venues. For fans who arrive early, they can play games and buy drinks at the Runway Bar, operated out of something akin to a food truck. Following games, there’s the authentic 1969 Ford Ranchero parked just outside the main gates (see the photo at the top of the first page of this review). It blares old-school music and is used in photo ops by throngs of fans. Just one more way the Tower Buzzers enhance the experience.

Overall, the gameday atmosphere here is awesome. Credit the front office led by seasoned Minor League operators Benavides and Ortega. DBH’s Freund agrees. “Allan Benavides is one of the best in the business and his team have built something truly special by fully embracing the community’s aviation heritage and bringing the Tower Buzzers identity to life in a way that is completely authentic.”

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Summary

Another special feature at ONT Field is the replica of a P-38 fighter plane near the kids’ area in left-center field. The city of Ontario’s project manager on the park, Dan Beers, says it’s his favorite spot in the venue, perhaps because of the Easter egg on it. You see, the aircraft registration number on its tail is DB-1027, which are Beers’ initials and his birthday (10/27). See above.

Easter eggs abound nearby where the baggage tractor appears to be pulling a cart full of abandoned luggage. Take a look here when you visit, because the tags on these suitcases bear the names of Tower Buzzers staff and workers who were involved in the park’s creation. There’s even a pet carrier with a fake dog in it. The dog is motion-activated, and when you approach it, it starts barking. Not only that, but it barks in Morse Code! In case you think that’s too cute by half, keep in mind that this park exists in the land of imagineering at Disneyland. So it fits.

Special touches like these abound here.

“The city just wanted this to be the best ballpark,” observed Benavides. “Other cities or owners would’ve cut things like these out, but Ontario wanted everything kept in.”

Edwin Mendoza has lived in Ontario since 1994. He made a three-year commitment to buy season tickets, and he’s thrilled that he did. “We knew it would be fun, but it’s so much more fun that we thought it would be. Everyone here is really into the game.” Indeed, this has all resonated with local fans. Through the Tower Buzzers’ first 48 home dates in ’26, they are averaging 4,033 fans per game. That is almost exactly double what this franchise drew in its first 48 dates in Rancho last year. And compared to the attendance in Modesto (the odd man out in the Cal League Musical Chairs) for the same period in 2025, Ontario’s crowds are 305% bigger.

This surge by the Tower Buzzers has permitted the Cal League’s overall attendance to climb by 112,586 versus the same point last year. (Google Gemini wasn’t the only brainy entity I asked for help on this review, as they did the graphic on page 1. Number Tamer himself David Kronheim provided this attendance analysis.)

It’s working. With ONT Field’s features and experiences, fans in Ontario are encountering the best that pro baseball has to offer. It’s not overstating things to say that this is a generational, transcendent new ballpark.

City Manager Ochoa sums it up like this: “The (city) council told us you’re going to get one shot at this, so do it right.” When the music stopped from the game of Musical Chairs, the city of Ontario got it exactly right. Yes, it was a perfect three-point landing.

Thanks for making it all the way through this lengthy review. As fans are told at the exit gates when departing a Tower Buzzers’ game, thank you for flying with us!

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