Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Park (French: Parc Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton), also known as RCGT Park (French: Parc RCGT) 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 ...
in
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, Ontario, Canada, with a seating capacity of 10,332. The stadium is located in the city's east end near the interchange of
Queensway and
Vanier Parkway
Riverside Drive ( Ottawa Road #19) is a major road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that follows along the eastern bank of the Rideau River. Its northern terminus is at the Transitway/Via Rail underpass just south of the Queensway, and the road proceed ...
. It has been used for minor-league professional baseball and music concerts since 1993.
History
The stadium was built to house the
Ottawa Lynx
The Ottawa Lynx were a Minor League Baseball team that competed in the Triple-A International League (IL) from 1993 to 2007. The team's home field was Lynx Stadium in Ottawa, Ontario. Over 15 seasons, the team was an affiliate of the Montreal ...
of the International League and opened prior to the 1993 season. In its first season, the Lynx sold out 43 games and set an International League attendance record by averaging 9,772 fans per game. However, annual attendance steadily declined from there, except for a modest increase in 2001. By 2006, Ottawa had the lowest average attendance in the league.
The Lynx relocated after the 2007 season.
After the departure of the Lynx, the City of Ottawa considered other proposals for the site but kept the stadium as a baseball facility for the following season. Among the proposals rejected by the city in 2007 were:
* conversion of the stadium into the "Steelback Centre", a variable-use complex that could host 25,000 for concerts and 15,000 for sporting events as proposed by
Frank D'Angelo
Frank D'Angelo (born April 23, 1959) is a Canadian entrepreneur in the food and restaurant industry, and in entertainment. D'Angelo has made several feature-length films through his In Your Ear Productions. He is also the founder of D'Angelo Br ...
of
Steelback Brewery
Steelback Brewery was a Canadian based and owned brewery, located in Tiverton, Ontario, on the shores of Lake Huron.
History
The start
Steelback Brewery was started in September, 2002 by Frank D'Angelo while looking for expansion space for his ...
;
* replacement of the stadium by a casino;
* replacement of the stadium with a larger Ottawa Congress Centre;
* redevelopment of the site as conventional retail or office space.
A new team, the
Ottawa Rapidz
The Ottawa Voyageurs, previously the Ottawa Rapidz, were a professional baseball team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada under the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball or Can-Am League.
As a Can-Am team, the team played one seas ...
of the
Can-Am League
The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, commonly known as the Can-Am League, was a professional, independent baseball league with teams in the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada, founded in 2005 as a reorganization ...
, was established in December 2007 and began to play in 2008. Despite attracting higher attendance than the Lynx in its final season, the Rapidz declared bankruptcy on 29 September 2009.
A new team, the Voyageurs, was announced by the Can-Am league for the 2009 season. However, the league was faced with a lack of prospective owners for the team and with declining economic conditions and disbanded the Voyageurs in March 2009.
The stadium remained unused in 2009 except for a late-August series of community baseball games sponsored by Ottawa city councillor
Bob Monette. Earlier, following the demise of the Voyageurs, Monette had suggested that the stadium be dismantled and the land sold to generate funds which could be applied to a new sports venue.
In August 2009, area businessmen Dave Butler and Duncan MacDonald presented a proposal which would renovate the existing stadium facility for activities throughout the year, including use as a venue for
Winterlude
Winterlude is an annual winter festival held in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec (collectively known as the National Capital Region).
Winterlude is run by the Department of Canadian Heritage and was started in 1979. The event is one of Otta ...
.
In January 2010, the
Intercounty Baseball League
The Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) is a Canadian amateur baseball league, comprising teams of college players and former professionals from North America and beyond. The teams are located in Southern Ontario.
The league was formed in 1919 and ...
voted 6–2 in favour of presenting the Ottawa Stadium Group with an expansion franchise that would play at the Ottawa Baseball Stadium On 10 March 2010, the IBL confirmed that the application for an IBL expansion franchise had been accepted. The new team, the
Ottawa Fat Cats
The Ottawa Fat Cats were a semi-professional baseball club in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The team began play on May 8, 2010, against the Guelph Royals, and played its home games at the Ottawa Baseball Stadium, the first home game was on May 15, 2010 ...
, played from 2010 through 2012.
After spending two years negotiating with various ownership groups to bring a double-A baseball franchise to Ottawa, including a prospective deal with
Mandalay Baseball which required the city to invest $40 million in stadium renovations, the city signed a ten-year lease with the Can-Am League to field a team in 2015, named the
Ottawa Champions
The Ottawa Champions Baseball Club (french: link=no, Les Champions d'Ottawa) were a professional baseball team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Champions made their debut as a member of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseb ...
, however the Can-Am League merged with the Frontier League after the 2019 season and the Champions were left off the 2020 Frontier League schedule, leaving the stadium again without a tenant.
[
]
In September 2020, the addition of a
Frontier League team in Ottawa was announced, with a lease to play at RCGT Park.
During the
Freedom Convoy 2022
A series of protests and blockades in Canada against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions, called the Freedom Convoy (french: Convoi de la liberté, links=no) by organizers, began in early 2022. The initial convoy movement was created t ...
protests, the Titans permitted the city to permit protester's use of the parking lot for one weekend, an attempt to alleviate congestion. Protesters instead set up a long term supply centre at the facility.
Branding
Ottawa company
JetForm first bought the naming rights to the stadium in 1993 and it was called JetForm Park. The name was changed to Lynx Stadium after the 2002 season when JetForm changed its name to Accelio. For the 2008 season, the Rapidz marketed the stadium as Rapidz Stadium. From 2008-2015, it was known as Ottawa Stadium.
On 12 March 2015, it was announced that accounting firm
Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton
Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton (RCGT) is a member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd. This Canadian firm covers areas of Assurance services, assurance, tax, advisory, and business recovery, reorganization services and cybersecurity. It has o ...
had signed a multi-year naming rights deal, giving the park its current name.
Design
The stadium is in the split-level design, with a concourse running around the middle of the seating bowl. This concourse is at street level, so fans in the "lower" seats walk down, and fans in the "upper" seats walk up. All seats are blue chair-back models. Concessions, restrooms, a gift shop, and a kids' play area are located along a wider concourse (also at street level) located underneath the upper seats.
The stadium also features skyboxes and the "Upper Deck" restaurant (No longer operational) perched behind home plate. The windows do not open, there is no outdoor seating at this level. Access is by elevator from the concourse below. This room is now labelled an event space, can be booked for parties of 50 plus. There are open-air picnic tables down the left-field line which are also available to all fans.
Coventry Road runs along the left-field fence, and games can easily be seen from the street while driving or walking. There is less than of buffer between the stadium wall and the road, so flying balls can occasionally pose a hazard to passing cars.
Concerts
Concerts have been held at the stadium on rare occasions:
* 19 July 1998: Stardust Picnic with
Blue Rodeo
Blue Rodeo is a Canadian country rock band formed in 1984 in Toronto, Ontario. They have released 16 full-length studio albums, four live recordings, one greatest hits album, and two video/DVDs, along with multiple solo albums, side projects, a ...
,
Great Big Sea
Great Big Sea was a Canadian folk rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year Irish, Scot ...
,
54-40,
The Waltons
''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book ''Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 film ...
and
Weeping Tile
A weeping tile (also called a drain tile or perimeter tileGradwell, John B., and Malcolm Welch. ''Technology--shaping our world''. South Holland, Ill.: Goodheart-Willcox, 1991. 116. Print.) is a porous pipe used for underground water collection ...
;
* 20–21 September 2002: Molson Canadian Snowjam featuring
Treble Charger
Treble Charger is a Canadian rock band formed in 1992 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, consisting of vocalist and guitarist Greig Nori, vocalist and guitarist Bill Priddle, bassist Rosie Martin and drummer Richard Mulligan. They began with a melodic ...
,
Rascalz
Rascalz are a Canadian hip-hop group from Vancouver, British Columbia. The group played a crucial role in the artistic and commercial development of Canadian hip hop as well as specifically for the Westcoast scene in Vancouver popularizing the te ...
,
Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys are an American Celtic punk band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. Singer and bassist Ken Casey has been the band's only constant member. Other current members include drummer Matt Kelly (1997– ), singer Al Barr (199 ...
,
Goldfinger,
Swollen Members
Swollen Members is a Canadian hip hop group from Vancouver, British Columbia, consisting mainly of Madchild and Prevail. Frequent collaborators include vocalist Moka Only (who was actually a member of the group for a short period of time in the ...
,
Moka Only
Daniel Denton (born November 14, 1973), better known by his stage name Moka Only, is a Canadian underground hip hop artist. He has won 3 JUNO Awards, 5 MuchMusic Video Awards, and has been nominated for 11 Western Canadian Music Awards.
Origina ...
,
Bowling For Soup
Bowling for Soup (abbreviated as BFS) is an American rock band formed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1994. The band consists of Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Burney (guitar, backing vocals), Gary Wiseman (drums, percussion, backing vo ...
,
Simple Plan
Simple Plan is a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 1999. The band's lineup consists of Pierre Bouvier (lead vocals, studio bass guitar), Chuck Comeau (drums), Jeff Stinco (lead guitar), and Sébastien Lefebvre (rhythm guita ...
,
Mudmen, 54stance, and Chuck Calibre
* 5 July 2007:
Nickelback
Nickelback is a Canadian Rock music, rock band formed in 1995 in Hanna, Alberta. It is composed of guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist Ryan Peake, bassist Mike Kroeger, and drummer Daniel Adai ...
,
Daughtry,
Puddle of Mudd
Puddle of Mudd is an American rock band formed in Kansas City, Missouri in 1992. To date, the band has sold over seven million albums and has had a string of No. 1 mainstream rock singles in the United States. Their major-label debut '' Co ...
,
State of Shock
Gallery
References
External links
Ballpark Reviews – Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Park
{{Ottawa landmarks
Minor league baseball venues
Sports venues in Ottawa
Baseball venues in Ontario
1993 establishments in Ontario
Sports venues completed in 1993