Bowling Green Ballpark is a 4,559-seat stadium in Downtown Bowling Green, Kentucky. It is primarily used for baseball and is home to the Bowling Green Hot Rods of the High-A East of Minor League Baseball. This state-of-the-art stadium opened with Citizens First Opening Night on April 17, 2009, to a standing room only crowd of 6,886. The Bowling Green Hot Rods defeated the Kannapolis Intimidators 8–4 in this much anticipated opening game that brought professional baseball to Bowling Green for the first time in 67 years. Many ceremonial "first" pitches were thrown, and the starting lineup of the Hot Rods were driven onto the field by locally owned vintage Hot Rods. The offices for the Bowling Green Hot Rods and several other touches were finally completed after the 2009 season.
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| Location | 300 8th Avenue Bowling Green, KY 42101 |
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| Coordinates | 36°59′48.40″N 86°26′27.26″W / 36.9967778°N 86.4409056°W |
| Owner | City of Bowling Green |
| Operator | Triple Play, LLC. |
| Capacity | 4,559 |
| Field size | Left Field: 318 ft (97 m) Center Field: 400 ft (122 m) Right Field: 326 ft (99 m) |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | June 4, 2008 |
| Opened | April 17, 2009 |
| Construction cost | $28 million ($39.8 million in 2023 dollars[1]) |
| Architect | DLR Group |
| Structural engineer | Haris Engineering, Inc.[2] |
| General contractor | Alliance Corporation[3] |
| Tenants | |
| Bowling Green Hot Rods (SAL/MWL/High-A East) 2009–present | |
The ballpark is also used occasionally by the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers baseball team to host high profiles games, such as the 2017 and 2019 game against the Kentucky Wildcats baseball.[4][5][6]
Ballpark Features
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Bowling Green Ballpark was designed by architectural firm DLR Group. The right-centerfield wall in Bowling Green Ballpark is unique in that it is concave in right-center because of the shape of a pre-existing road behind the field. The scoreboard in right-centerfield measures 35-feet tall and 56-feet wide, with the ability to show scoring, live video, advertisements, player statistics, and more. Embedded in the left field wall is a 6-foot, 3inch tall by 68-foot wide LED display board, behind which is a picnic area. There are two grass lawn seating areas- one in left-center and one at the right field line. The kids play area boasts an inflatable car customized with the Hot Rods' logo, a carousel, and a playground, and a behind the batter's eye in centerfield, a splash-pad. The Reinhart Club is a bar located on suite level directly behind home plate. Also on the suite level are 10 suites, the Hall of Fame suite, and a party deck—The Coca-Cola Deck.[7]
Events
editFrom May 23–27, 2012, the venue hosted the 2012 Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament,[8] which was won by Louisiana–Monroe.[9]
Multiple concerts have also taken place at Bowling Green Ballpark, including Florida Georgia Line and Nelly, Jake Owen, Ted Nugent, Uncle Kracker, and more.
References
edit- ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ "Sports Projects". Haris Engineering. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
- ^ Knight, Graham. "Bowling Green Ballpark - Bowling Green Hot Rods". Baseball Pilgrimages. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
- ^ "Kentucky vs WKU (Mar 21, 2017)". Western Kentucky University. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
- ^ "Kentucky vs Western Kentucky (Mar 21, 2017)". University of Kentucky. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
- ^ "Kentucky (21–20) -vs- Western Kentucky (18-20-1)". Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
- ^ "Seating Chart". Minor League Baseball. February 4, 2009. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
- ^ "2011-12 Championships". Sun Belt Conference. Archived from the original on September 20, 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
- ^ Bishop, Chad (May 27, 2012). "ULM Claims Sun Belt Conference Championship". Bowling Green Daily News. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2012.