Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville

Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville
Former names Jacksonville Baseball Park (planning/construction)[1]
Location 301 A. Philip Randolph Boulevard
Jacksonville, Florida 32202
Coordinates 30°19′30″N 81°38′35″W / 30.324968°N 81.643069°W / 30.324968; -81.643069Coordinates: 30°19′30″N 81°38′35″W / 30.324968°N 81.643069°W / 30.324968; -81.643069
Owner City of Jacksonville
Operator SMG
Capacity 11,000 (Jacksonville Suns games)
Surface Grass
Construction
Broke ground December 11, 2001[2]
Opened April 4, 2003
Construction cost $34 million
($43.7 million in 2016 dollars[3])
Architect Populous
Project manager Gilbane/Scheer/Renaissance[4]
Structural engineer Bliss & Nyitray, Inc.[5]
Services engineer John J. Christie & Associates, PC[6]
General contractor Barton-Malow[4]
Tenants
Jacksonville Suns (Southern League, 2003–present)
Jacksonville Armada FC (NASL, 2015–present)

The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville is a baseball park in Jacksonville, Florida. It is the home stadium of the Jacksonville Suns baseball team, who play in the Class Double-A Southern League, and the Jacksonville Armada FC of the North American Soccer League.[7] The facility is known as Community First Park for Jacksonville Armada games.[8] The facility opened in 2003.

History

The Baseball Grounds were proposed as part of the city planning program known as the Better Jacksonville Plan. It was designed to replace the aging Wolfson Park, the Suns' previous home. The facility cost $34 million and broke ground in 2002, with construction being completed the following year.[2]

The ballpark was the first completed project of the Better Jacksonville Plan. The Atlantic Coast Conference baseball championship was held at the venue from 2005–2008. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets won the first ACC Tournament at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, followed by the Clemson Tigers in 2006, the North Carolina Tar Heels in 2007, and the Miami Hurricanes in 2008.[2]

The Baseball Grounds hosts an annual game between the Florida Gators and the Florida State Seminoles. The most recent game was on March 25, 2014 when Florida defeated Florida State 4–1 in front of 10,125 fans.[9]

On July 17, 2013 the Baseball Grounds hosted the Southern League All-Star Game. The South Division defeated the North Division 6–0 in front of a crowd of 9,373.[10]

Features

Seen from space.

It has nearly 6,000 stadium-style chairs and can accommodate more than 11,000 fans, the highest capacity in all of Double-A baseball, with an old-fashioned design, brick facade and a grass seating berm and bleacher seating. It also features 12 luxury skyboxes, four skydecks, a large scoreboard and videoboard, a playground, and the "knuckle," a unique 9-foot-high (2.7 m) mound for seating at the left field corner. Other ballpark features include a souvenir shop, first aid facility, various seating levels and perspectives, an ample number of restrooms and concession areas, first-class in-seat concession services behind home plate, wide concourse and seating aisles and a state-of-the-art video scoreboard in left center field.[2]

The park has an in-house video broadcast of games provided by The Schelldorf Television Network. The ballpark is located in downtown Jacksonville, situated between Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena and EverBank Field.[2]

Attendance records

The largest crowd for a baseball game at the ballpark was 17,860, which occurred on May 25, 2005 during an ACC Baseball Tournament game between Florida State and North Carolina.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Elliott, Jeff (January 12, 2003). "Suns' Ticket Holders Take Seat at New Park". The Florida Times-Union (Morris Communications). Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Knight, Graham (August 16, 2003). "Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville - Jacksonville Suns". Baseball Pilgrimages. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville". Barton Malow Company. Retrieved September 24, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville". Bliss & Nyitray Inc. Retrieved September 24, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Projects". John J. Christie & Associates, PC. Retrieved September 24, 2011.
  7. ↑ "ARMADA FC 2015 SEASON TICKETS GO ON SALE STARTING AT JUST $10 PER MATCH". Jacksonville Armada FC. July 11, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  8. ↑ "COMMUNITY FIRST PARK". ArmadaFC.com. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  9. ↑ Limon Romero, Iliana (March 25, 2014). "UF, FSU baseball teams get into brawl, Gators upset No. 1 Seminoles". The Orlando Sentinel (Tribune Company). Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  10. ↑ Elliott, Jeff (July 17, 2013). "South Shuts Out North in Southern League All-Star Game". The Florida Times-Union (Morris Communications). Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Baseball Attendance Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2014.

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