Fifth Third Park to sparkle Spartanburg

Article posted by Coliseum, November 30^th, 2023

Image: Overland

The City of Spartanburg (South Carolina, US) leaders and the sport management company Diamond Baseball Holdings held a groundbreaking for a new minor league ballpark in the heart of the City.

The Opening Day is scheduled for April 2025.

‘wyff4.com’ stated that the ownership group announced recently that the new ballpark off Daniel Morgan Avenue will be called the Fifth Third Park. They added they are “excited” for work to begin.

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The Diamond Baseball Holdings is an American sports ownership and management group. The company owns and operates 25 Minor League Baseball (MiLB) teams in the United States and Canada. The Diamond Baseball Holdings was established in 2021 by media conglomerate Endeavor and is a subsidiary of the investment firm Silver Lake.

St. Petersburg (US)-based the Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is professional baseball below Major League Baseball (MLB), including teams affiliated with the MLB clubs and independent baseball leagues consisting of unaffiliated teams.

New York (US)-based the Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league in North America. It is often considered to be the highest level of professional baseball in the world. There are two leagues that make up the MLB: The American League, also called the AL, and the National League, also called the NL. There are currently 30 teams in the MLB, 29 from the United States and one from Canada, the Toronto Blue Jays.

Maintained Tyson Jeffers, General Manager of the Spartanburg Professional Baseball Club, “People will be right on top of the field. There’s not going to be a bad seat in the house. There will be some higher-end areas like the suites and the club level that are going to be really important for the business community, but just for your normal fan or family that’s coming, it’s going to be a cheap date, and we want to make sure we keep our prices low, so we can get as many people in here.”

‘wyff4.com’ further stated that the Spartanburg Mayor Jerome Rice said the ballpark is part of a $500 million project. It will also add apartments, a hotel, retail, offices, and a parking deck to downtown.

Remarked Rice, “I’m a lifelong resident of Spartanburg, and an investment like this and what’s truly behind it, I mean bringing families together, bringing families downtown, making Spartanburg a destination is truly the key.”

The Diamond Baseball Holdings said the 3,500-seat ballpark will cost around $75 million and will honor the area’s baseball history, which includes the Spartanburg Sluggers of the Negro Leagues.

The Spartanburg Sluggers were a Negro League baseball team that played at the 3,000-capacity Duncan Park in Spartanburg, South Carolina from 1926 until the early 1950s.

The Negro leagues were professional baseball leagues in the United States made up of African-American teams. The leagues were active from 1920 to the late 1940s.

The park will be home to the MLB team Texas Rangers’ Single A affiliate, the Down East Wood Ducks (MiLB team). It is not known if they will make the jump to High A from Low A to compete with the Greenville Drive, a minor league affiliate of the MLB team Boston Red Sox.

Jeffers hopes the proximity of the teams doesn’t lead to them splitting the fan base – “I hope there’s going to be enough baseball for people to choose from. I think there’s going to be enough opportunity for people to come out to games and get different experiences.”

Jake Evatt, who owns a business in Spartanburg, believes the Upstate can handle the two minor league teams – “Even though we call it the Greenville-Spartanburg area, the Upstate, I think they’re two different communities. I think Spartanburg being 30 minutes from Greenville, it’s a totally different community, totally different people.

The City leaders and the team officials also hope the park can bring more people into downtown Spartanburg and looks forward to a future with the Drive.

Added Jeffers, “I think there’s an opportunity to create a healthy rivalry between the teams as well as both of us are going to be extremely focused on the community. I know the Greenville Drive do great work.”

Leaders said they have already picked a team name and branding, but that won’t be revealed until April of next year.

Continued Jeffers, “We just want to make sure we’re creating something that is welcoming and is conducive with the Spartanburg community. Obviously, it will evolve over time, and we’ll continue to add different pieces to it and make sure every single year they come back, there’s something new and fresh for them to see.”

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