Kentucky Proud Park
Kentucky Proud Park is a baseball stadium in Lexington, Kentucky. It is the home field of the University of Kentucky Wildcats college baseball team. Opened in 2018, with the Wildcats to play their first season in the stadium in 2019, it has a permanent capacity of 2,500, with grass berm seating adding more than 1,500 to the total capacity. Temporary seating can be added to bring the capacity to 7,000 for NCAA tournament games.
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  Kentucky Proud Park Location in Kentucky  Kentucky Proud Park Location in the United States | |
| Address | 510 Wildcat Court |
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| Location | Lexington, Kentucky 40506 |
| Owner | University of Kentucky |
| Operator | University of Kentucky |
| Type | Stadium |
| Genre(s) | Baseball |
| Capacity | 5,000 |
| Field size | LF: 335 ft (102.1 m) LC: 375 ft (114.3 m) CF: 400 ft (121.9 m) RC: 365 ft (111.3 m) RF: 320 ft (97.5 m)[1] |
| Surface | Artificial turf |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 2 March 2017 |
| Built | 2018 |
| Opened | 26 February 2019 |
| Construction cost | $49 million |
| Architect | HNTB RossTarrant Architects BallparkDesignAssociates, LLC |
| Tenants | |
| Kentucky Wildcats (NCAA) (2019–present) | |
| Website | |
| ukathletics | |
The replacement for Cliff Hagan Stadium, the park received its name in a deal between JMI Sports, which holds the multimedia rights for UK sports and also markets the naming rights to all Wildcats venues, and the Kentucky Farm Bureau, an organization promoting the interests of Kentucky farmers which is best known by the non-farming public for its insurance business. The Farm Bureau chose to donate its naming rights to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, which uses "Kentucky Proud" as the brand for its marketing program for agricultural products made in the state.[2]
Kentucky opened up Kentucky Proud Park on February 26, 2019 with a 7–3 win over Eastern Kentucky in front of 4,074 fans.[3]
See also
- List of NCAA Division I baseball venues
- Friends Arena, a stadium in Stockholm that received its current name via a similar donation of naming rights
References
- Roberts, Ben (October 24, 2016). "Barnhart says new stadium marks 'a really cool day for Kentucky baseball'". Lexington Herald-Leader. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
- Smith, Jennifer (October 19, 2018). "New UK baseball stadium now has a name. Here's who bought the rights". Lexington Herald-Leader. Archived from the original on November 6, 2018. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
- "EASTERN KENTUCKY (6-3) -VS- KENTUCKY (4-3)". Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2019.