Stadium Report Cards: Louisville Slugger Field

Team: Louisville Bats
Location: Louisville, KY
League: International League(West)
Built: 2000
Capacity: 13,131
My event: Regular Season Game, vs Indianapolis Indians

1. Outdoor Design

By now, you should know I like bricks. This was really cool. The area like this was a huge hall, and actually had a wedding set up there. The ticket windows and stuff were inside that. So it was like this was a separate building entirely, but I loved this.
8/10

2. Indoor Design

Also cool. A bug lower deck, overhang seats, with box seats above that. The outfield(scroll down) was nicely put together. It just was a cozy ballpark.
8/10

3. Prices
For a AAA park, it was pretty good. The ones online say 10 for where we thought. I thought it was higher, but it was okay. The 59fifties were 32, when they're normally cheaper at minor league parks.
7/10

4. Food
You know already. They did have local made ice cream that was really good. So better than average!
6/10

5. Staff
They did have some ticket Nazis, but they were nice about it. I found my seat, and the old man who showed me to my seat actually wiped it down. I thought it was nice of him. The store people were pretty cool too, even thought I didn't buy anything.
8/10

6. Cleanliness
It was solid. Some parts were iffy, but overall good.
7/10

7. Parking
A lot of people parked for free right behind the left field wall, on the street. but there wasn't much of other parking that I saw.
7/10

8. Atmosphere
I liked it! The team was about 8 back, but the crowd was into the game. They had their guys who's limit is AAA ball, and they all loved their team. Also the one guy who is obnoxious and tries to start every cheer. He was there.
8/10

9. Playing Surface

Kentucky Bluegrass. Get it?
8/10

10. Scoreboard

There was a video board, and a scoreboard. You can see both above, but no complaints, but the video board was shotty at points.
7/10

74! I love AAA parks. Theyre just a nice atmosphere with local flair, and no huge names. That's the last one from my trip, and for the first time, the home team was undefeated. A perfect 4-0, and 7-2 on all my trips.

Padres AAA Team's New Home

The historic Portland Beavers had a fall out up in Portland. PGE park being renovated for soccer full time, and a new stadium deal not cut, they had to move. Tucson had a AAA void when the Sidewinders moved up to Reno and became the Aces. The Beavers moved down to Tucson since Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium was already built. Former spring training home of the D-Backs and ChiSox, the stadium can't seem to find a team of it's own.

The Padres original plan was to skip town and go down to a suburb of San Deigo called Escondido, which has a deal pending, and could move the team in a few years. The Diamondbacks and Rockies now split a new Cactus League home, which I might post about.

Read about PGE Park here

The Soap Opera of PGE Park

If you don't know, Portland Timbers will be in the MLS next season. The team was formed in the 70s, and the identity survived after the NASL folded. They were reborn as a "Minor League" team in the USL. The citizens love them. Well PGE Park just quite isn't suitable for a pro soccer team, since the Timbers split it with the AAA team Portland Beavers. But they voted for and will get a renovation to 21,000 seats. Here's a computer mock up below.

But what about the Beavers? Portland's two most storied franchises(Sorry Blazers) must be split a part. In this tale of tragedy, the Beavers are left cold and homeless. As you can see, the new seats will be put in where left field, where the street overlooks the field. You can't play baseball in that! Well, you can, but still! Luckily the Beavers have plans for a new park.

Wait. WHAT? THAT HASN'T BEEN APPROVED?! Awe man. Beavers, this is the end. It's not you, its me. It's been fun. I still love you.

Just for reference, here is what the stadium looks like now. I thought it looked kind of run down from the pictures, and the renovation will help out a lot, so that's cool.

The Beavers played their last game in Portland for the near future on Monday.No word on the Beavers new homes. They were sold, and are still looking for places. The Padres are the affiliate, and theres talks of moving to a suburb of San Diego. But some people are saying a possible move to El Paso, or Tucson. Tucson lost their AAA team a few years ago to Reno, so they have a stadium built already. Not mentioned above, was the Portland State Vikings also played at PGE, and I assume that they will still play on the soccer field.

On an unrelated note, I'll be at the UCF-NC State game saturday night in Orlando, therefore a new report card! I might get TC to do one this weekend too, so I can hook you guys up. Also, the stadium I linked is the LA Coliseum.