Las Vegas Ballpark is a

baseball stadium A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

Summerlin South Summerlin South, also seen on maps as South Summerlin, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, on the western edge of the Las Vegas Valley and adjacent to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. It is so ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

in the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Stat ...

. It is the home field for the

Las Vegas Aviators The Las Vegas Aviators, formerly known as the Las Vegas 51s and Las Vegas Stars, are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. They are located in Summerlin South, Nevad ...

of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

. The stadium is owned by the Howard Hughes Corporation. Las Vegas Ballpark is located in Downtown Summerlin near the intersection of South Pavilion Center Drive and Summerlin Center Drive next to City National Arena and across the street from the Downtown Summerlin shopping center. Construction of the $150 million stadium began in 2018 and was completed in time for the Aviators' 2019 season. It replaced the team's previous home at

Cashman Field Cashman Field is a soccer-specific stadium in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. It is primarily used for soccer as the home field of Las Vegas Lights FC of the USL Championship. Originally built as a baseball stadium, it was the home of the Triple-A ...

, where the team had resided since 1983.

History

Background

The decision to build a new stadium for the team, then known as the 51s, came on the back of many issues both the 51s and Minor League Baseball had with the team's previous stadium,

. Considered state-of-the-art when it opened in 1983, it had fallen far behind the times. Players and staff criticized the facility noting poor conditions in the playing surface, bullpens, and clubhouse. The weight room was smaller when compared to other Triple-A stadiums, with infielder

Ty Kelly Tyler Patrick Kelly (טיי קלי; born July 20, 1988) is an American-Israeli professional baseball utility player who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets. He plays ...

calling it "basically just a room... not an actual weight room". The batting cage was also a point of concern for the players; it was a single lane and only accessible by walking out of the clubhouse to the parking lot. Johnny Monell described the cage as making him feel like he was "back in high school again," not one level below the major leagues. During a 51s game on August 22, 2015, the stadium sewage system backed up, causing raw sewage to flow into the dugouts. The smell was so strong that players were forced to watch the rest of the game from chairs on the field. Team president and chief operating officer Don Logan said, "It's disappointing that Vegas has the worst facility in our league when we have such a great town with the greatest hotels, the greatest dining, the greatest shopping. It's not becoming of this community to have a place like this."

commissioner Branch Barrett Rickey expressed his concerns about the feasibility of the continuous usage of Cashman Field as a Triple-A ballpark. In a letter to the

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) is a government agency and the official destination marketing organization for Southern Nevada. It was founded by the Nevada Legislature in 1955. The LVCVA owns and operates the Las Vegas ...

which owned and operated the facility, he wrote that Cashman Field had long since reached the end of its useful life, and a number of MLB teams had opted to place their Triple-A teams "in far less appropriate markets" than Las Vegas. He added that Cashman Field needed "many tens of millions of dollars" to keep it at something approaching Triple-A standards, and even those would not have been enough to make it "an optimal long-term solution" as a Triple-A venue. For much of the time since the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

ended their 18-year affiliation with what was then known as the Las Vegas Stars in 2000, Las Vegas had been considered an affiliate of last resort for most MLB teams, something Las Vegas Ballpark sought to fix.

Approval and groundbreaking

In April 2013, the team was purchased by Summerlin Las Vegas Baseball Club LLC, a joint venture of Howard Hughes Corp. and Play Ball Owners Group, including investors Steve Mack, Bart Wear and Chris Kaempfer, with intentions of moving it to a new stadium in Summerlin. In October 2017, the

approved a 20-year, $80 million naming rights agreement to help pay for a new $150 million 10,000-seat ballpark. The official groundbreaking was held on February 13, 2018. By April 2018, excavation was 85 percent complete with nearby grading for parking lots about 90 percent complete. By June 2018, it was on schedule to be completed before the 2019 season.

Opening

Reservations for tickets began in July 2018. The schedule was announced in August 2018, with the home opener on April 9, 2019. On April 6, the stadium had a soft opening hosting a NIAA

Sunset 4A Region The Sunset 4A Region is a part of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association and is one of two conferences in Southern Nevada 4A high school athletics. The Sunset Region consists of large schools in the western parts of Las Vegas and North La ...

high school baseball game between

Palo Verde High School Palo Verde High School is a high school in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The school was built in 1996 with an adjacent 10 portable classrooms located in Summerlin, a rapidly growing suburban community in the western portion of the City of Las ...

and

Centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

. The Aviators formally opened the ballpark with a 10–2 win against the

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics for 15 yea ...

on April 9 before a sellout crowd of 11,036. Las Vegas secured the win with a five-run second inning in which

Skye Bolt Skye Michael Bolt (born January 15, 1994) is an American professional baseball outfielder in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. The Oakland Athletics selected Bolt in the fourth round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, 2015 MLB draft, and ...

scored the eventual winning run when he came home on a

fielding error In baseball statistics, an error is an act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to advance one or more bases or allows a plate appearance to continue after the ba ...

. Aviators pitchers

Chris Bassitt Christopher M. Bassitt (born February 22, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut with the Chicago White Sox in 2014 and played for the Oakland Athletics ...

and

Daniel Mengden Daniel Joseph Mengden (born February 19, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Kansas City Royals organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals, and in th ...

combined to

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

14 Sacramento batters. The first

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

in ballpark history was hit by Zach Green of the Sacramento River Cats on April 11 in the top of the eighth inning. In the same game,

Sean Murphy Sean Murphy may refer to: Sports * Seán Óg Murphy (1897–1956), Irish hurler * Seán Murphy (hurler) (born 1947), Irish hurler * Seán Murphy (Gaelic footballer) (born 1932), Irish Gaelic football player * Sean Murphy (footballer, born 1995), Sc ...

hit the first Aviators' home run in ballpark history in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Amenities and layout

Las Vegas Ballpark includes 22 suites, 400 club-level seats and 350 party deck seats, a center field pool, kids' zone, and several bars. The ballpark features 4Topps Premium Seating breathable mesh seats, with 8,200 seats installed it is the first stadium in sports history with all seats made from breathable mesh. The frames of these seats contain fiberglass, which has since delaminated causing skin irritation to some spectators. The ballpark's total seating capacity is 10,000. There is a concourse that wraps around the playing field. The field is recessed below the street-level concourse so it can be viewed from the entrances and seats. Las Vegas Ballpark has the largest video board in minor league baseball at . The

Daktronics Daktronics is an American company based in Brookings, South Dakota that designs, manufactures, sells, and services video displays, scoreboards, digital billboards, dynamic message signs, sound systems, and related products. Founded in 1968 by ...

video board is high by wide and features a 13 HD pixel layout. There are LED ribbon boards installed on the facings of each side of the upper deck; these are used to display the inning, score, count, and advertisements. The stadium also has indoor batting cages, a weight room and a rehabilitation center. The bullpen for each team is in right field. The park dimensions are to right and left field, and to left-center and to center. The home run wall, with the exception of left field where the wall is high, is high.

References

External links

Official website

Las Vegas Aviators web site
{{Las Vegas Valley Las Vegas Aviators Minor league baseball venues Baseball venues in Nevada Sports venues in Las Vegas Sports venues completed in 2019 Buildings and structures in Summerlin, Nevada Pacific Coast League ballparks