PK Park is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

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 ...

in the

northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each s ...

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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, located in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, ...

. It is the home field of the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc Nike, Inc. ( or ) is a ...

Ducks Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...

of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divisi ...

, and during the summer, the home of the

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in No ...

Eugene Emeralds The Eugene Emeralds (nicknamed the Ems) are a Minor League Baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Eugene, Oregon. The Emeralds are members of the Northwest League and are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants. Eugene plays thei ...

of the

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Basebal ...

. The Ducks' program was revived in 2009 after nearly three decades as a club sport. PK Park is named after former Oregon

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

Pat Kilkenny, whose donations helped to fund the stadium. Designed by sport architect

DLR Group DLR Group is an employee-owned integrated design firm providing architecture, engineering, planning, and interior design. Their brand promise is to elevate the human experience through design. A self-described advocate for sustainable design, the ...

, PK Park has 3,000 fixed seats in the main seating bowl and a total capacity of 4,000 spectators. Fan amenities include a video board, landscaped areas for hospitality, a tiered party plaza called "

Fowl Fowl are birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl (Galliformes) and the waterfowl (Anseriformes). Anatomical and molecular similarities suggest these two groups are close evolutionary relatives; together ...

Territory", a picnic plaza, and eight upper level suites. Located just east of

Autzen Stadium Autzen Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in the northwest United States, in Eugene, Oregon. Located north of the University of Oregon campus, it is the home field of the Oregon Ducks of the Pac-12 Conference. Opened in 1967, the stadium h ...

, the baseball park was built on the northeast section of the football stadium's parking lot. The Ducks' home field through 1981 was

Howe Field Jane Sanders Stadium, nicknamed "The Jane", is an outdoor softball stadium in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Located on the south side of the University of Oregon (UO) campus at 18th and University, it is the home field of the Oregon Ducks of th ...

, just south of

McArthur Court McArthur Court is a basketball arena located on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene and the former home of the Oregon Ducks men's and women's basketball teams, replaced in 2011 by Matthew Knight Arena. Also known as "The Pit" or " ...

. The on-campus venue had since been converted to

Jane Sanders Stadium Jane Sanders Stadium, nicknamed "The Jane", is an outdoor softball stadium in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Located on the south side of the University of Oregon (UO) campus at 18th and University, it is the home field of the Oregon Ducks o ...

, the home of women's

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

. The

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

of the FieldTurf playing field at PK Park is approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

. It has an unorthodox alignment, oriented southeast by east (home plate to center field); the recommended alignment of a baseball diamond is east-northeast. The former home venues of Howe Field and Civic Stadium were similar, both aligned southeast.

First seasons

Ground was broken for the facility on August 15, 2008, and the first phase involved construction of the FieldTurf playing field and temporary seating for the 2009 season. In their first game at PK Park on February 27, 2009, the Ducks beat

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

, the defending national champions, 1–0 on a walk-off single by senior Andrew Schmidt, witnessed by a sellout crowd of 2,777. The second phase of the project was the permanent concrete grandstand, built between the 2009 and 2010 seasons. The first game in the completed stadium was on March 2, 2010, a 6–2 win over the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac ...

, with 2,609 in attendance.

NCAA tournament

In 2012, the park hosted an NCAA Regional and Super Regional. Oregon won the Regional, but was defeated by

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

in three games in the Super Regional. In 2013, PK Park again hosted an NCAA Regional, as the Ducks entered the 64-team tournament as a #8 national seed. Oregon lost its second and fifth games, both to the Rice Owls, and were eliminated. In 2021, Pk Park hosted another regional, as the Ducks entered as the #14 national seed. Oregon fell short when they lost to LSU in the regional championship

Attendance

In 2013, the Ducks ranked 34th among Division I baseball programs in attendance, averaging 1,971 per home game. The park set an Oregon Ducks athletics single-game attendance record of 4,825 on June 11, 2012, in game three of the Super Regional against

; the Golden Flashes defeated the Ducks 3-2. To increase the stadium's capacity for postseason play, two temporary stands were erected beyond the left-center field wall. The overall attendance record was set in 2017 when 5,097 fans attended a July 4 contest between the Eugene Emeralds and Boise Hawks. The game went on for 20 innings - the longest ever for any professional baseball game to be played on the July 4th Independence Day holiday. :* Spring

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

game played on the same day (no home baseball game after 2011 spring game).

Previous venue

In the program's first period as a varsity sport (1936–1981), the Ducks played at Howe Field, which was converted to the women's softball venue in 1987 after the school eliminated baseball as a varsity sport in 1981. The minor league Eugene Emeralds had played at Civic Stadium from 1969 through 2009, and previously at Bethel Park, located at Roosevelt Boulevard and Maple Street (); its outfield is now Lark City Park.

References

External links