Location | 950 Rockford Road SW Cedar Rapids, IA 52404, United States |
---|---|
Owner | City of Cedar Rapids |
Operator | Cedar Rapids Baseball Club, Inc. [1] |
Capacity | 5,300 (2007–present) [2] 6,000 (2002–2006) [2] |
Field size | Left field – 315 ft (96 m) Left-center – 378 ft (115 m) Center field – 400 ft (122 m) Right-center – 390 ft (119 m) Right field – 325 ft (99 m) |
Surface | Grass |
Construction | |
Broke ground | June 13, 2001 [3] |
Opened | April 7, 2002 |
Construction cost | US$16.49 million [4] ($23.4 million in 2019 dollars [5] ) |
Architect | 360 Architecture (formerly Heinlein Schrock Stearns) Leo Pfeiffer Architects |
Structural engineer | Martin/Martin, Inc. [6] |
Services engineer | Smith Seckman Reid, Inc. [7] |
General contractor | Estes Construction [1] |
Tenants | |
Cedar Rapids Kernels (MWL/High-A Central) 2002–present NCAA Division III College World Series 2019–2022 |
Veterans Memorial Stadium is a minor league baseball stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It is the home field of the Cedar Rapids Kernels of the High-A Central. It is often called New Veterans Memorial Stadium to distinguish it from the original Veterans Memorial Stadium, which existed from 1949 to 2001.
Veterans Memorial Stadium is located southwest of downtown Cedar Rapids on Rockford Road. ImOn Ice Arena and Kingston Stadium, home to Kennedy, Jefferson, and Washington high school football, are both adjacent to Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Veterans Memorial Stadium has a total seating capacity of 5,300. [2] It has 12 luxury suites and several sections that are reserved for group outings, including a mezzanine terrace in the upper deck behind first base, a pavilion in left field, and a pre-game picnic area.
In addition to Kernels games, Veterans Memorial Stadium hosted the Midwest League All-Star Game in 2004, and again in 2016. On July 9, 2005, the stadium hosted its first concert, featuring Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. The American Legion World Series was held there in 2006. It is also occasionally used for high school and college baseball games, including the annual American Rivers Conference baseball tournament. It hosted the annual "Corridor Classic" between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Northern Iowa Panthers until the University of Northern Iowa discontinued its baseball program.
The city of Cedar Rapids owns Veterans Memorial Stadium, which was named to honor veterans of all wars, and the city's Veterans Memorial Commission operates and maintains the stadium. The Linn County All Veterans Memorial is located next to the stadium. In March 2004 the Kernels and the city agreed to a new 40-year lease agreement that reduced the ballclub's monthly payments from the original 20-year agreement that they had signed when the new stadium opened. [8]
In March 2008 the Kernels sold the naming rights of the playing field to the Dale and Thomas Popcorn Company. The playing field was known as Dale and Thomas Popcorn Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium for the 2008 season. [9] The field was renamed Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium when Perfect Game USA, a baseball scouting company based in Cedar Rapids, bought the naming rights to the field in March 2009 in a five-year contract. [10]
In 2017, the stadium won a bid to host the NCAA Division III College World Series from 2019 to 2022, after long time host of the event the Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, WI chose not to bid on the rights to host the event after 2018. [11] [12]
The original Veterans Memorial Stadium was built in 1949 for the Cedar Rapids Rockets of the Central Association. It later became home to the Cedar Rapids Indians (1950–1952), the Cedar Rapids Raiders (1953–1957), and the Cedar Rapids Braves (1958–1961) of the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League. From 1962 until its demolition, Cedar Rapids' Midwest League teams—which went through several name changes before becoming the Kernels in 1993—played their home games there. [13]
During the 1990s, Veterans Memorial Stadium failed to meet many of Major League Baseball's new standards for minor league parks as newer facilities were opening in other Midwest League cities. On August 15, 2000, Cedar Rapids voters approved a referendum that helped provide some of the money needed to build a new ballpark adjacent to the old one. (Other funds came from the state of Iowa, the Kernels ballclub, and private donations.) [14] The last game at the old Veterans Memorial Stadium was played on August 28, 2001, with the Kernels defeating the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, 4–1. [15] The stadium was demolished shortly afterwards and the site now serves as a parking lot for the new stadium.
The new Veterans Memorial Stadium was dedicated on April 7, 2002, but that day's scheduled game against the Quad City River Bandits was rained out. The first games were not played until April 9, when the Kernels swept a doubleheader from the River Bandits, 5–4 and 3–0. [16]
The ballpark was damaged by a derecho storm which hit Cedar Rapids on August 10, 2020. [17] Damage was estimated at $1 million, with outfield walls, an electronic ribbon advertising board, and a light pole beyond right-center field all blown down. [18]
Cedar Rapids is the second-largest city in Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, 20 miles (32 km) north of Iowa City and 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. It is a part of the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids Region of Eastern Iowa which includes Linn, Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Jones, Johnson, and Washington counties.
Globe Life Park in Arlington is a multi-purpose stadium in Arlington, Texas, located between Dallas and Fort Worth. Originally built as a baseball park, it was home to the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball and the Texas Rangers Baseball Hall of Fame from 1994 until 2019 when the team vacated the stadium for Globe Life Field. It was constructed as a replacement for nearby Arlington Stadium and opened in April 1994 as The Ballpark in Arlington.
The Cedar Rapids Kernels are Minor League Baseball team of the High-A Central and the High-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and play their home games at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Kernels are owned by Cedar Rapids Ball Club, Inc..
The Quad Cities River Bandits are a Minor League Baseball team of the High-A Central and the High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Their home games are played at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, Iowa, one of the Quad Cities.
The Clinton LumberKings are a collegiate summer baseball team of the Prospect League. They are located in Clinton, Iowa, and play their home games at NelsonCorp Field. From 1956 to 2020, they were members of Minor League Baseball's Midwest League. With Major League Baseball's reorganization of the minor leagues after the 2020 season, Clinton was not selected to continue in affiliated baseball.
The Fort Wayne TinCaps are a Minor League Baseball team of the High-A Central and the High-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They are located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and play their home games at Parkview Field. They were members of the Midwest League from 1993 to 2020 and won their lone Midwest League championship in 2009.
Principal Park, formerly Sec Taylor Stadium, is a minor league baseball stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. It is the home field of the Triple-A East's Iowa Cubs.
Sutter Health Park is the home ballpark of the Sacramento River Cats Minor League Baseball team, which is a member of the Triple-A West. Known as Raley Field from 2000 to 2019, the facility was built on the site of old warehouses and rail yards in West Sacramento, California, across the Sacramento River from the California State Capitol. It is directly adjacent to downtown Sacramento.
The ImOn Ice Arena is a 3,850-seat multipurpose arena in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, located adjacent to Veterans Memorial Stadium. The arena opened on January 8, 2000, and is owned by the city of Cedar Rapids. It is home to the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the United States Hockey League as well as several local youth hockey teams. The University of Iowa Hawkeyes club hockey team plays some of their home games at the facility. The arena contains separate sheets of ice for ice hockey games and for public and figure ice skating. ImOn Communications purchased naming rights to the arena from the city through 2024.
Modern Woodmen Park is a minor league baseball venue located in Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is home to the Quad Cities River Bandits, the High-A Central affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Since 1987, St. Ambrose University plays all of its home baseball games there as well. Located on the banks of the Mississippi River, in the shadow of the Centennial Bridge, home run balls to right field often land in the river.
The Waterloo Bucks are a baseball team that plays in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. Their home games are played at the Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo, Iowa. They were founded in 1995. They originally played in the South Division, but switched to the North Division in 2010.
Busch Stadium, also referred to informally as "New Busch Stadium" or "Busch Stadium III", is a baseball park located in St. Louis, Missouri, the home of the St. Louis Cardinals, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. The stadium has a seating capacity of 44,494, and contains 3,706 club seats and 61 luxury suites. It replaced Busch Memorial Stadium and occupies a portion of that stadium's former footprint. A commercial area, dubbed Ballpark Village, was built adjacent to the stadium over the remainder of the former stadium's footprint.
121 Financial Park 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.
The Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League was a Minor League Baseball organization that operated for the better part of 60 years, mostly in those three states. The league began play in 1901 and disbanded after the 1961 season. It was popularly known as the Three–I League and sometimes jokingly as the Three-Eye League.
Linn-Mar High School is a public high school, part of the Linn-Mar Community School District. It serves students in grades 9 through 12 and is located in Marion, Iowa.
Memorial Stadium is the current home of the Indiana State Sycamores football and soccer section in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. The stadium was renovated between 1967 and 1969; it was built to host professional minor league baseball; the Indiana State football team began playing there in 1949.
The Veteran's Memorial Building is located on May's Island in the middle of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It is a contributing property to the May's Island Historic District that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The building served as the Cedar Rapids City Hall until it was damaged in the Flood of 2008. The Building underwent a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark its official re-opening April 15, 2014.
The 2019 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament will be played at the end of the 2019 NCAA Division III baseball season to determine the 44th national champion of college baseball at the NCAA Division III (D-III) level. The tournament will conclude with eight teams competing at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the championship. Eight regional tournaments will be held to determine the participants in the World Series.
On August 10–11, 2020, a severe derecho swept across the Midwestern United States — predominately eastern Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. It caused high winds and spawned an outbreak of weak tornadoes. Some areas reported torrential rain and large hail.
Kingston Stadium is a football stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Kingston Stadium is located southwest of downtown Cedar Rapids, adjacent to Veterans Memorial Stadium and ImOn Ice Arena. Opened September 12, 1952, it was named for a settlement called Kingston established in 1839 on the west side of the Cedar River which was later annexed into Cedar Rapids.