Former names | Spring Mobile Ballpark (2009–2014) Franklin Covey Field (1997–2009) Franklin Quest Field (1994–1997) |
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Location | 1365 South West Temple Salt Lake City, Utah United States |
Coordinates | 40°44′28″N111°53′35″W / 40.741°N 111.893°W |
Owner | City of Salt Lake City |
Operator | Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment Group |
Capacity | 14,511 [1] |
Record attendance | 16,531 (July 22, 2000, vs. Albuquerque) |
Field size | Left field: 345 ft (105 m) Left-center field: 385 ft (117 m) Center field: 420 ft (128 m) Right-center field: 375 ft (114 m) Right field: 315 ft (96 m) |
Surface | Natural grass |
Construction | |
Broke ground | May 19, 1993 [2] |
Opened | April 11, 1994 [3] [4] 30 years ago |
Construction cost | $23 million [4] ($47.3 million in 2023 [5] ) |
Architect | Populous and Valentiner, Crane, Brunjes & Onyon |
Structural engineer | H/T Engineers, Inc. [6] |
Services engineer | Bredson & Associates, Inc. [7] |
General contractor | Sahara Construction [4] |
Tenants | |
Salt Lake Bees (PCL/AAAW) 1994–present Utah Utes (Pac-12) 1994–present |
Smith's Ballpark (formerly known as Franklin Quest Field, later Franklin Covey Field, [8] and more recently Spring Mobile Ballpark) is a minor league baseball park in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the home field of the Salt Lake Bees of the Pacific Coast League and the collegiate Utah Utes of the Pac-12 Conference.
Smith's Ballpark opened in 1994 with a seating capacity of 15,400, the largest in the Pacific Coast League. It is located on the site of its predecessor, Derks Field, with a similar unorthodox southeast alignment, [9] toward the Wasatch Range.
In its first season in 1994, the Buzz set a PCL attendance record with 713,224 fans. [10] The team led the PCL in attendance in each of its first six seasons in Salt Lake. The largest crowd at the ballpark is 16,531 in 2000; the Saturday night opponent was the Albuquerque Dukes on July 22. [4]
Besides hosting the Salt Lake Bees, Smith's Ballpark has played host to two exhibition games featuring the Minnesota Twins, a spring training game featuring the Seattle Mariners and the Colorado Rockies, concerts, soccer matches, and high school and college baseball games, including a Mountain West Conference tournament. [11]
The ballpark has hosted the Triple-A All-Star Game twice. In 1996, a team of National League-affiliated All-Stars defeated their American League opponents, 2–1. Salt Lake's Todd Walker was selected as the PCL MVP. [12] The game returned to the park in 2011 with the International League All-Stars beating the PCL team, 3–0. [13]
In January 2023, the Larry H. Miller Company, owner of the Salt Lake Bees, announced that they would be building a privately-financed stadium in the Daybreak section of suburban South Jordan, Utah, with a planned opening in the spring of 2025, ending a 31-year run at Smith's Ballpark. [14]
In April 2023, the University of Utah announced plans to explore a fundraising drive for a construction of a new ballpark for the Utah Utes baseball program on the site of their current practice facility. The move—which could be completed as early as 2025—would relocate the Utes program from Smith's Ballpark to the new facility. [15]
On June 21, 2023, outfielder Jo Adell hit a 514-foot home run at the ballpark, the longest home run ever hit – in either minor or major league baseball – since Statcast tracking started in 2015. [16]
When the ballpark opened in 1994, it was called Franklin Quest Field, for which the Franklin Quest Company paid $1.4 million in the summer of 1993 for 15 years of naming rights. [17]
In 2009, the Bees announced on April 7 that they had reached a multi-year naming-rights deal with Spring Mobile (a Salt Lake City-based AT&T authorized retailer) to provide the ballpark's new name of Spring Mobile Ballpark which ran for five seasons. [18]
In March 2014, it was announced that Salt Lake City-based Smith's Food and Drug had signed a six-year naming rights deal, giving the park its current name. [19]
Smith's Ballpark is noted for its views of the Wasatch Mountains over the left and center field walls. [20]
In early 2024, the Miller family foundation announced a $22 million donation to Salt Lake City’s Ballpark NEXT fund. This fund, managed by the Salt Lake City, is conducting a $100-million program to improve the neighborhood including and surrounding Smith's Ballpark. [21]
The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball (MLB).
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The Salt Lake Bees are a Minor League Baseball team affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels. They compete in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, the team plays its home games at Smith's Ballpark, which opened in 1994. With a seating capacity of 15,411, it boasts the largest capacity in the league. Previously known as the Salt Lake Buzz from 1994 to 2000 and the Salt Lake Stingers from 2001 to 2005, the team adopted the Bees moniker in 2006. Since their inception in 1994, they have been a part of the PCL, including the 2021 season when the league was called Triple-A West.
Deseret is a term derived from the Book of Mormon, a scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Latter Day Saint groups. According to the Book of Mormon, "deseret" meant "honeybee" in the language of the Jaredites, a group in the Book of Mormon that were led by God to the Americas after the construction of the Tower of Babel. Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley suggested an etymology by associating the word "Deseret" with the ancient Egyptian dsrt, a term referring to the "bee crown" of the Lower Kingdom.
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The Utah Utes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the Runnin' Utes; the women's gymnastics team is known as the Red Rocks.
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Ballpark station is a light rail station in the People's Freeway neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States, served by all three lines of Utah Transit Authority's TRAX light rail system. The Blue Line provides service from Downtown Salt Lake City to Draper. The Red Line provides service from the University of Utah to the Daybreak community of South Jordan. The Green Line provides service from the Salt Lake City International Airport to West Valley City.
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Derks Field was a minor league baseball park in the Western United States, located in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was the home field of the Salt Lake Bees, Angels, and Gulls of the Pacific Coast League, Bees, Giants, and Trappers of the Pioneer Baseball League, and the Salt Lake Sting of the American Professional Soccer League.
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Karen Gail Miller, is an American businesswoman. Following the death of her husband, Larry H. Miller, she assumed the role of chairwoman of the Larry H. Miller Group (LHM) of Companies, now known as the Larry H. Miller Company (LHMCO). From 2009 until the sale of the team in 2020, she maintained a majority interest in the Utah Jazz, a National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise located in Salt Lake City, Utah. As of 2023, she continues to retain a minority stake in the team and its associated businesses. Miller is a major supporter of Big League Utah, a campaign to bring a Major League Baseball team to Utah. She engages in philanthropy through her family foundation.
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Events and tenants | ||
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Preceded by first stadium | Home of the Salt Lake Bees 1994 – present | Succeeded by current |