![]() Sloan Park in February 2017 | |
![]() | |
Former names | Cubs Park (2014) |
---|---|
Location | 2330 W. Rio Salado Parkway Mesa, AZ 85201 |
Coordinates | 33°25′53″N111°52′54″W / 33.4313°N 111.8816°W |
Owner | City of Mesa [1] |
Operator | Chicago Cubs |
Capacity | 15,000 |
Record attendance | 16,152 (February 25, 2023 vs. San Francisco |
Field size | Left – 360 feet (110 m) LC – 366 feet (112 m) Center – 410 feet (125 m) RC – 398 feet (121 m) Right – 360 feet (110 m) |
Surface | Grass |
Construction | |
Broke ground | July 11, 2012 [2] |
Opened | February 12, 2014 |
Construction cost | US$99 million |
Architect | Populous & DWL Architects + Planners, Inc. |
Tenants | |
Chicago Cubs (MLB) (spring training) (2014–present) Arizona League Cubs (AzL) (2014–present) Mesa Solar Sox (AFL) (2014–present) |
Sloan Park is an American baseball park in Mesa, Arizona, that opened in 2014. The primary operator is the Chicago Cubs and the ballpark serves as their spring training home and is also the home of the Arizona League Cubs of the Arizona League and the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League. Sloan Park was built and paid for by residents of the City of Mesa, approved by ballot measure. It was primarily built to house spring training operations for the Chicago Cubs, who had previously played at nearby Hohokam Stadium. [3] The stadium design was led by Populous. The dimensions of the playing surface closely match those of the Cubs' regular home stadium, Wrigley Field. There are many secondary fields at the park, most of which are training and practice fields.
With a capacity of 15,000, Sloan Park is the largest spring training stadium by capacity in Major League Baseball, surpassing Camelback Ranch in Glendale (coincidentally, spring training home of the Cubs' in-city rival the Chicago White Sox) by 2,000 seats. [4]
The large capacity has allowed the Cubs to break spring training attendance records, drawing over 200,000 fans to Sloan Park in each of the park's first six seasons and again in 2023, attracting a Cactus League-record 250,893 fans in 2019, including a league-record 16,100 fans on March 25 vs. the Boston Red Sox. [5] That single-game mark was shattered again on February 25, 2023, when the Cubs packed in 16,152 fans against the San Francisco Giants. [6]
Formerly known as Cubs Park, on January 8, 2015, it was announced that Sloan Valve Company had signed a naming-rights deal to the ballpark, giving it its current Sloan Park name. [7] The stadium is currently the newest stadium in the Cactus League. [8] While it is home to these spring training games, it has also hosted some youth tournaments.
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The club plays its home games at Guaranteed Rate Field, which is located on Chicago's South Side. They are one of two MLB teams based in Chicago, alongside the National League (NL)’s Chicago Cubs.
Principal Park, formerly Sec Taylor Stadium, is a minor league baseball stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. It is the home field of the International League's Iowa Cubs.
Kino Sports Complex is a multiple-use sports complex in Tucson, Arizona. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox formerly utilized the complex's main ballpark, Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, for Cactus League games each March and had their minor league complexes on-site. The ballpark was also home to the Tucson Sidewinders of the Pacific Coast League for the team's last decade in Tucson, running from the stadium's 1998 opening season to the 2008 season. The ballpark was a temporary home (2011–2013) to the Tucson Padres of the Pacific Coast League during the team's relocation to El Paso, Texas. It is also the regular season home of the Pecos League's Tucson Saguaros baseball team since 2016. It seats 11,500 fans, and hosts concerts in addition to its primary function as a baseball park.
Hohokam Stadium, also known as Dwight W. Patterson Field and formerly Hohokam Park (1997–2013), is a 10,500-seat baseball park located in Mesa, Arizona. The stadium, named for the Hohokam people who occupied the region from approximately AD 1 to the mid-15th century, was completed in January 1997 after the original Hohokam Stadium was demolished. In 2015, it became the spring training home of Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics. The 2015 stadium and facility refresh was led by Populous.
LECOM Park is a baseball field located in Bradenton, Florida. It is the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates and is named after a 15-year naming rights deal was signed with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, which has its main campus in Erie, Pennsylvania, and also a campus in Bradenton. It was formerly known as McKechnie Field, named for Bradenton resident and Baseball Hall of Fame great Bill McKechnie, who led the Pirates in 1925 and the Cincinnati Reds in 1940 to World Series titles. He was also a coach with the Cleveland Indians in 1948.
Camelback Ranch–Glendale is a baseball complex located in Phoenix, Arizona and owned by the city of Glendale. It is operated by Camelback Spring Training LLC. It is the spring training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox. The main stadium holds 13,000 people.
Roger Bossard is the head groundskeeper at Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox.
Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives established players practice time prior to competitive play. Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warm climates of Arizona and Florida to enjoy the weather and watch their favorite teams play.
Salt River Fields at Talking Stick is a stadium complex located in the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale, Arizona, at the former site of the Indian Bend Country Club. It serves as the Major League Baseball spring-training facility for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies, replacing Tucson Electric Park for the Diamondbacks and Hi Corbett Field for the Rockies. The complex represents the first MLB park to be built on Native American Indian land.
Compadre Stadium was a stadium located in Chandler, Arizona. It was the spring training home of the Milwaukee Brewers from 1986 to 1997 and the home field of the Chandler Diamondbacks of the Arizona Fall League from 1992 to 1994. The ballpark was privately financed by local developers and built at a cost of $1.6 million in 1985. It closed in 1997 and sat abandoned for a number of years, with the outfield being used for grazing, before finally being demolished in 2014.
The 2014 Chicago Cubs season was the 143rd season of the franchise, the 139th in the National League and the 99th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs were managed by Rick Renteria in his only year as Cubs manager and played their home games at Wrigley Field as members of the National League Central.
Sports in Arizona includes professional sports teams, college sports, and individual sports. All four major league sports teams in Arizona are based in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Fitch Park is a baseball park complex and training facility located in Mesa, Arizona. It is the spring training workout facility for Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics. It is also the year-round home for Oakland's minor league training and player development operations, the home ballpark of the Arizona League Athletics, and the spring training home for Oakland's minor league affiliates.
The Mesa Jewels were a minor league baseball team based in Mesa, Arizona, In 1929, the Jewels played a partial season as members of the Class D level Arizona State League, before folding during the season. The 1947 Mesa Orphans succeeded the Jewels in minor league play, finishing in fourth place as members of the Class C level Arizona-Texas League after joining the league during the season. Both Mesa teams hosted minor league home games at Rendezvous Park.
Rendezvous Park was a baseball stadium on the grounds of a city park by the same name in Mesa, Arizona. It most notably served as a Major League Baseball spring training ballpark used by the Chicago Cubs from 1952 to 1965 and by the Oakland Athletics from 1969 to 1976.