Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | baseball team operations |
Founded | 1982 |
Headquarters | 921 Childs Point Road Annapolis, MD 21401 |
Key people | Peter Kirk, Jon Danos, Brad Sims, Brooks Robinson |
Website | Opening Day Partners |
Opening Day Partners (ODP) is a company that owns and operates independent baseball teams in the United States. Since 1982, Opening Day Partners has owned and operated its own Minor League Baseball teams, operated teams for other organizations, assisted in the sale and purchase of teams, and advised and consulted with international clients. [1]
The company has sought to standardize comfortable ballpark features such as hotel lobby-style box offices, more legroom for fans, padded seats, individual cupholders, 360-degree walkways, picnic areas able to accommodate large groups, and spacious playgrounds. The company was the first in minor league baseball to implement 20-horse carousels and bumper boat attractions able to accommodate children and adults. Currently, the only minor league ballparks in the world that have the bumper boat attraction are Clipper Magazine Stadium and Regency Furniture Stadium. [2]
ODP has placed an emphasis on philanthropy through various fundraisers, charity events, specialty jersey auctions, and children's reading programs. It also incorporates local fans, ranging from the occasional to the hardcore, with fan fests, name-the-team contests, the incorporation of local companies and their products, and homages to each team's baseball and socio-geographic history.
Opening Day Partners, formerly known as Keystone Baseball, has owned and/or operated several Major League Baseball-affiliated, professional baseball teams in the Maryland cities of Aberdeen, Bowie, Frederick, Hagerstown, and Salisbury. The company developed Atlantic League of Professional Baseball clubs in Camden, New Jersey, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, York, Pennsylvania, Waldorf, Maryland and Sugar Land, Texas before transitioning them to local interests.
Baseball & Sports Associates, LLC is an Opening Day Partners-owned company that handles baseball operations, including player development for numerous Minor League Baseball teams.
Opening Day Partners has a long-standing relationship with Major League Baseball, and many of its individual clubs. The assignments undertaken by Opening Day Partners and its affiliates include:
Through its facility management division, Opening Day Partners has provided stadium design, construction, and operation services to numerous communities, in addition to providing such services on its own ballparks. Clients have included:
Through its food and beverage entities, Opening Day Partners has provided concession and catering services to minor league parks, arenas and universities nationwide including:
Oracle Park is a baseball park located in the China Basin neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has served as the home of the San Francisco Giants, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. Originally named Pacific Bell Park, then SBC Park, then AT&T Park, the stadium's current name was adopted from the Oracle Corporation in 2019. The park stands along the San Francisco Bay, a segment of which is named McCovey Cove in honor of former Giants player Willie McCovey.
Griffith Stadium stood in Washington, D.C., from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street, and between W Street and Florida Avenue NW.
Seals Stadium was a minor league baseball stadium in San Francisco, that later became the first home of the major league San Francisco Giants. Opened in the Mission District in 1931, Seals Stadium was the longtime home of the San Francisco Seals (1931–57) of the Pacific Coast League. The Pacific Coast League Mission Reds (1931–37) shared the ballpark with the Seals for the first seven years before moving to Los Angeles.
Rickwood Field, located in Birmingham, Alabama, is the oldest professional baseball park in the United States. It was built for the Birmingham Barons in 1910 by industrialist and team-owner Rick Woodward and has served as the home park for the Birmingham Barons and the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro leagues. Though the Barons moved their home games to the Hoover Met in the suburbs, and most recently to Regions Field in Birmingham, Rickwood Field has been preserved and is undergoing gradual restoration as a "working museum" where baseball's history can be experienced. The Barons also play one regular season game a year at Rickwood Field. Rickwood Field is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Myrtle Beach Pelicans are a Minor League Baseball team in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and the Low-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. The Pelicans compete in the Low-A East. Home games are played at TicketReturn.com Field, which opened in 1999 and seats up to 6,599 people.
The Lancaster Barnstormers are an American professional baseball team based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They are a member of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a "partner league" of Major League Baseball. The Barnstormers have played their home games at Clipper Magazine Stadium in the city's Northwest Corridor since 2005.
Prince George's Stadium is a multipurpose sports venue located in unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland, near Bowie, primarily used for baseball. It is home of the Baltimore Orioles' Double-A affiliate in the Double-A Northeast, the Bowie Baysox. The stadium is the result of a cooperative venture between Maryland Baseball Limited Partnership and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and is built on park property.
A baseball park, also known as a ballpark or diamond, is a venue where baseball is played. A baseball park consists of the playing field and the surrounding spectator seating. While the diamond and the areas denoted by white painted lines adhere to strict rules, guidelines for the rest of the field are flexible.
Citi Field is a baseball park located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City. Completed in 2009, it is the home field of the New York Mets of the National League East division of Major League Baseball. The stadium was built as a replacement for the adjacent Shea Stadium, which opened in 1964.
121 Financial Ballpark is a baseball park in Jacksonville, Florida. It is the home stadium of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp Minor League Baseball team, who play in the Triple-A East. The facility opened in 2003.
LoanMart Field is a stadium in Rancho Cucamonga, California. It is primarily used for baseball and is the home field of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes minor league baseball team. It was opened on April 3, 1993, with the nickname The Epicenter, and has a seating capacity of 6,588 people. While playing home games at the stadium since 1993, the Quakes have broken a number of stadium attendance records.
Clipper Magazine Stadium is a baseball park located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the Northwest Corridor neighboorhood. It is the home of the Lancaster Barnstormers, the city's Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) franchise. It hosted its first regular-season baseball game on May 11, 2005, with the Barnstormers losing to the Atlantic City Surf, 4–3. The ballpark also serves as the corporate headquarters for the Atlantic League and seats 6,000 people.
Borchert Field was a baseball park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The home field for several professional baseball clubs from 1888 through 1952, it became obsolete after the construction of County Stadium in 1953 and was demolished later that year. The site is now covered by Interstate 43.
The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor league affiliates. Joshua Schaub is the league commissioner. League offices are located in Moorhead, Minnesota. Though a separate entity, the league shared a commissioner and director of umpires with the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball during that league's existence. The American Association of Professional Baseball has 501(c)(6) tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service. In 2020, as part of MLB's reorganization of the minor leagues, the American Association, together with the Atlantic League and the Frontier League, became an official MLB Partner League.
The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs are an American professional baseball team based in Waldorf, Maryland. They are members of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent "partner league" of Major League Baseball. Since 2008, the Blue Crabs have played their home games at Regency Furniture Stadium. They represent the counties of Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary's, which are located on the Southern Maryland peninsula between Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River.
Regency Furniture Stadium is a 4,200-seat baseball park in Waldorf, Maryland that hosted its first regular season baseball game on May 2, 2008, as the tenants of the facility, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs defeated the Lancaster Barnstormers, 3–2. For the 2010 baseball season, the collegiate summer Southern Maryland Nationals of the Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League will play select games at the venue. The CRSCBL previously used Regency Furniture for the Mid-Atlantic Classic. With the groundbreaking for Southern Maryland's new stadium, a local company, Regency Furniture, purchased the naming rights for $2.88 million over 10 years.
Greater Nevada Field is a Minor League Baseball venue in the Western United States, located in Reno, Nevada. Opened on April 17, 2009, it is the home of the Triple-A Reno Aces of the Triple-A West. Greater Nevada Field is on the north bank of the Truckee River and welcomes over 500,000 ticketed fans per year.
Charles M. "Chuck" Greenberg is an American sports attorney, chairman and founder of the Greenberg Sports Group, and owner of three minor league baseball teams. Greenberg was managing partner of Rangers Baseball Express, LLC, which on August 5, 2010, won court approval to purchase the Texas Rangers, a Major League Baseball team, from Tom Hicks and Hicks Sports Group. Greenberg served as Managing Partner and CEO of the Rangers from 2010 to 2011.
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