The Ballpark at Jackson is a 6,000-seat minor league baseball

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States census. Jackso ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. It opened in 1998. The Ballpark at Jackson was built by the

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, and was the home of the Jackson Generals, formerly of the Southern League from 1998 to 2020. The stadium is northeast of

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Jackson and is visible from

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...

. It also hosts other events, including Pro Wrestling for the USA Championship Wrestling company.

History

In conjunction with

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

's reorganization of the minor leagues after the 2020 season, the Jackson Generals were not invited to serve as any team's affiliate, effectively ending their run in the Southern League and affiliated baseball altogether. The future of the team is uncertain. While, Major League Baseball has stated its intentions to assist cities like Jackson in joining independent baseball leagues, the team's lease requires them to maintain a Class A, Double-A, or Triple-A affiliation to remain at The Ballpark at Jackson. With no team lined up for 2021, the Generals agreed to operate The Ballpark at Jackson as a temporary home for the Winnipeg Goldeyes, an independent American Association team based in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

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, which was displaced due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. However, Jackson Mayor Scott Conger notified the teams that the Generals lost their authority to manage the city-owned ballpark when they lost their affiliation with Minor League Baseball and that they were issued an eviction notice to leave the stadium after May 30, nine days after the Goldeyes' May 21 home opener. On June 1, the Goldeyes entered into a new license agreement with the city to continue use of the facility. The Generals and the City of Jackson went go to an arbiter to determine which party had legal control of the stadium. The arbiter ruled in favor of the city, determining the team's lease to be invalid after the loss of its affiliation and requiring the team to vacate the ballpark.

Naming rights

From its opening until November 1, 2012, The Ballpark at Jackson was known as Pringles Park, due to a naming rights agreement with

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

, then-owners of the

Pringles Pringles is an American brand of stackable potato-based crisps. Originally sold by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1968 and marketed as "Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips", the brand was sold in 2012 to the current owner, Kellogg's. As of 2011, Pr ...

brand, which has a factory in Jackson. In 2012, the Pringles brand was sold to Kellogg Company. Kellogg's opted not to renew the naming rights agreement, and the name was changed to The Ballpark at Jackson for the 2013 season.

Notable events

The Ballpark at Jackson has hosted the 1999 and 2011 Southern League All-Star Games and the 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2021

Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament The Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament is the conference baseball championship of the NCAA Division I Ohio Valley Conference. In the current format, established in 2023, the top eight regular-season finishers of the conference's 10 bas ...

References

External links

Jackson Generals: Ballpark Info

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballpark at Jackson Minor league baseball venues Baseball venues in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Madison County, Tennessee Sports in Jackson, Tennessee 1998 establishments in Tennessee Sports venues completed in 1998