Bowling Green Ballpark

Bowling Green Ballpark
Location 300 8th Avenue
Bowling Green, KY 42101
Coordinates 36°59′48.40″N 86°26′27.26″W / 36.9967778°N 86.4409056°W / 36.9967778; -86.4409056Coordinates: 36°59′48.40″N 86°26′27.26″W / 36.9967778°N 86.4409056°W / 36.9967778; -86.4409056
Owner City of Bowling Green
Operator Triple Play, LLC.
Capacity 4,559
Field size Left Field: 318 ft (97 m)
Center Field: 400 ft (122 m)
Right Field: 326 ft (99 m)
Construction
Broke ground June 4, 2008
Opened April 17, 2009
Construction cost $28 million
($30.9 million in 2016 dollars[1])
Architect DLR Group
Structural engineer Haris Engineering, Inc.[2]
General contractor Alliance Corporation[3]
Tenants
Bowling Green Hot Rods (MWL) (2009–present)
Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament (2012)

Bowling Green Ballpark is a 4,559-seat stadium in Downtown Bowling Green, Kentucky. It is primarily used for baseball and is home to the Bowling Green Hot Rods of the Midwest League of minor league baseball. This state-of-the-art stadium opened with Citizens First Opening Night on April 17, 2009 to a standing room only crowd of 6,886. The Bowling Green Hot Rods defeated the Kannapolis Intimidators 8-4 in this much anticipated opening game that brought professional baseball to Bowling Green for the first time in 67 years. Many ceremonial "first" pitches were thrown, and the starting lineup of the Hot Rods were driven onto the field by locally owned vintage Hot Rods. The offices for the Bowling Green Hot Rods and several other touches were finally completed after the 2009 season. Bowling Green Ballpark is now fully completed.

Ballpark Features

Bowling Green Ballpark from behind home plate prior to a game in 2015

Bowling Green Ballpark was designed by architectural firm DLR Group. The outfield wall in Bowling Green Ballpark is unique in that it is concave in right-center because of the shape of a pre-existing road behind the field. The large video board in right-center includes a 16-foot by 32-foot video screen, one of the largest in the minor leagues. The screen is capable of displaying high-definition video. Embedded in the left field wall is a 6-foot by 68-foot LED display board, behind which is a picnic area named Home Run Grill. There are two grass lawn seating areas- one in left-center and one at the right field line. The kids play area boasts inflatables customized with the Hot Rods' logo. The Club on 8th is a bar located on suite level directly behind home plate. Also on the suite level are 10 suites, the champions suite, and a party deck.[4]

Events

From May 23–27, 2012, the venue hosted the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament,[5] which was won by Louisiana–Monroe.[6]

References

  1. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Community Development Project. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
  2. "Sports Projects". Haris Engineering. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
  3. Knight, Graham. "Bowling Green Ballpark - Bowling Green Hot Rods". Baseball Pilgrimages. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  4. "Seating Chart". Minor League Baseball. February 4, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
  5. "2011-12 Championships". Sun Belt Conference. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
  6. Bishop, Chad (May 27, 2012). "ULM Claims Sun Belt Conference Championship". Bowling Green Daily News. Archived from the original on May 27, 2012. Retrieved May 27, 2012.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/6/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.