Toyota Field (Madison, Alabama)
Toyota Field is a baseball park in Madison, Alabama. It is located west of Huntsville, the metropolitan area's largest city, and sits on a major thoroughfare, Interstate 565. It serves as the home of the Rocket City Trash Pandas,[6] the relocated minor league team formerly known as the Mobile BayBears, a team that plays in the Southern League. It was scheduled to open April 15, 2020[2] and seats up to 7,000 people.[7] Groundbreaking occurred on June 9, 2018.[7][1] Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama purchased the naming rights to the stadium.[8]
View of Toyota Field from Budweiser Berm | |
| Location | Zierdt Road and I-565 Madison, Alabama, US |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34°41′02″N 86°43′27″W / 34.683883°N 86.724288°W |
| Owner | City of Madison |
| Operator | BallCorps LLC |
| Capacity | 7,000[5] |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | June 9, 2018[1] |
| Opened | April 15, 2020[citation needed] |
| Construction cost | $46 million[2] |
| Architect | Populous[3] |
| Project manager | Turner Construction[4] |
| Structural engineer | Thornton Tomasetti[4] |
| Services engineer | Henderson Engineers[4] |
| General contractor | Hoar Construction[4] |
| Tenants | |
| Rocket City Trash Pandas (SL/DAS) 2020–present | |
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the United States in the spring of 2020, the minor league baseball season that year was canceled.[9] However, some limited-attendance public events were staged by the Trash Pandas that summer at Toyota Field to cultivate interest[citation needed] prior to the team's opening game on May 11, 2021.[10]
The first football game played at Toyota Field was held on October 15, 2022, between the North Alabama Lions from nearby Florence, and the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. The game was the first college football game ever played in Madison, Alabama.[11][12]
References Edit
- ^ a b Vaught, Lindsay (June 11, 2018). "Pro Baseball Coming Soon to Madison". The Madison Record. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
- ^ a b Spedden, Zach (April 16, 2019). "New Trash Pandas Ballpark One Year Away". Ballpark Digest. August Publications. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
- ^ Gattis, Paul (June 8, 2018). "How You'll Be 'Shocked' by Minor League Baseball in Madison". The Huntsville Times. Retrieved June 25, 2018.
- ^ a b c d McLaughlin, Bud (September 4, 2018). "Construction Underway on Madison Baseball Stadium". Huntsville Business Journal. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
Turner Construction's North Alabama office is the construction manager agent for the development. ... Hoar Construction is the general contractor for the stadium and handling the actual construction of the stadium.
- ^ Reichard, Kevin (January 30, 2018). "New Madison Ballpark Approved; 2020 Opening Planned". Ballpark Digest. August Publications. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
- ^ Ary, Patrick (September 5, 2018). "Rocket City Trash Pandas Chosen As New Madison Baseball Team's Name". WHNT. Huntsville. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
- ^ a b "MiLB Approves Mobile BayBears Move to Madison". Ballpark Digest. August Publications. May 31, 2018. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
- ^ Gattis, Paul (October 14, 2019). "Trash Pandas stadium to be known as Toyota Field". The Huntsville Times. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
- ^ "2020 Minor League Baseball Season Shelved". Minor League Baseball. June 30, 2020. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
- ^ Gattis, Paul (May 11, 2021). "Trash Pandas home opener: 'It's amazing. Everything is great here'". The Huntsville Times. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
- ^ Kuzma, Nick. "Field revealed before first-ever football game at Toyota Field". RocketCityNow.com. Fox 54. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
- ^ Gattis, Paul. "College football at Trash Pandas stadium: There's 1 million reasons". AL.com. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
External links Edit
- New renderings of Madison baseball stadium