Shea Stadium is a former baseball stadium located in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

, less than a mile north of

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,200 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in fiv ...

and just to the west of the USDA National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research. Converted to a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

-specific facility in 2003, it is owned and operated by

and is the home of the

Bradley Braves The Bradley Braves are the intercollegiate athletics teams of Bradley University, located in Peoria, Illinois, United States. The Braves' athletic program is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) and competes at the Division I (NCAA), ...

men's and women's soccer teams.

History

The property broke ground around 1968 and opened as a baseball facility in 1970 for

Braves baseball. Its name was chosen to honor Bradley

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 a ...

and baseball coach John "Dutch" Meinen. It served as the home field for Bradley baseball for 32 years, from 1970 to 2001, and the home field for the

Peoria Chiefs The Peoria Chiefs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The team was established in 1983 as the Peoria Suns. They are located in Peoria, Illinois, and are named for the Pe ...

from their first game on April 19, 1983 to 2001. The baseball field was renovated twice: once in 1982, and once in 1992 when it was given a $2.2 million overhaul. The facility was renamed Pete Vonachen Stadium at Meinen Field on June 6, 1992, in honor of the Chiefs' owner. After the teams moved to O'Brien Field for the 2002 season, the university began to look for other uses for Meinen Field, eventually settling on its current setup as a soccer-only facility. It was substantially reconfigured, with a few remnants of its baseball days remaining: the old press box; most of the first-base seating area, which now forms the main seating area for the soccer field; some of the light standards; and the concession stands and some other outbuildings on the property. On October 25, 2002, Meinen Field was renamed Shea Stadium after Tim Shea, a

alumnus. The first Bradley soccer game at the newly renovated Shea Stadium was in August 2003. On June 10, 2008, Shea Stadium played host to two

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

teams in a U.S. Open Cup qualifier when the Chicago Fire played against the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

in front 3,829 people, the largest crowd ever to see a soccer game at Shea Stadium. On January 23, 2020, the

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

announced that Peoria City would start play in the 2020 season in the Hartland Division of the Central conference, but the season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Peoria City will, after two years of delay, will began play in the Deep North Division of the Central conference. Their first game was on May 14 at Shea against Minneapolis SC Which ended in a 2-2 draw.

References

{{Bradley Braves baseball navbox College soccer venues in the United States Defunct college baseball venues in the United States Minor league baseball venues Bradley Braves baseball Soccer venues in Illinois College baseball venues in Illinois Sports venues in Peoria, Illinois Sports venues completed in 1970 Sports venues completed in 2002 1970 establishments in Illinois

History

See also

References