Constellation Field is a

baseball park A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

located in

Sugar Land, Texas Sugar Land is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a populous suburban municipality centered around ...

. It is the home of the

Sugar Land Space Cowboys The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club. They are located in Sugar Land, Texas, part of the Greater Houston metr ...

of the

Pacific Coast League 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 Bas ...

, who began play in 2012 as the Sugar Land Skeeters. The park also has the ability to host

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

, soccer,

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensi ...

, and

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ent ...

competitions, as well as concerts. Constellation Field has a capacity of 7,500 spectators for baseball games, and 9,500 spectators for concerts.

History

In December 2010, StarTex Power—a

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

-based power company—bought the naming rights for the ballpark from the team and the City of Sugar Land. In December 2011, the ballpark's name was changed to Constellation Field after the merger of StarTex Power and

Constellation Energy Constellation Energy Corporation () is an energy company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The company provides electric power, natural gas, and energy management services. It has approximately two million customers across th ...

. Constellation Field opened on April 26, 2012 when the Sugar Land Skeeters hosted the

York Revolution The York Revolution is an American professional minor-league baseball team based in York, Pennsylvania. It is a member of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent "partner league" of Major League Baseball ...

Concerts

The ballpark has held various concerts in its history. On October 19, 2012,

REO Speedwagon REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon) is an American rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial success throughout the 1980s. T ...

and

Night Ranger Night Ranger is an American hard rock band from San Francisco formed in 1979 that gained popularity during the 1980s with a series of albums and singles. Guitarist Brad Gillis and drummer Kelly Keagy have been the band's only constant members ...

used Constellation Field as a venue, and the following day

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature so ...

and

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born Kenny Wayne Brobst; June 12, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released several studio albums and experienced significant commercial success as a blues artist. Life and career Shepherd wa ...

did the same. On October 9, 2015, Constellation Field hosted "Country at the Ballpark" with Chris Young,

Eli Young Band Eli Young Band is an American country music band composed of members who met while students at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas: Mike Eli (lead vocals, guitar), James Young (guitar), Jon Jones (bass guitar), and Chris Thompson (drum ...

, and

Cassadee Pope Cassadee Blake Pope (born August 28, 1989) is an American pop and country singer. She was the lead vocalist and songwriter of the pop band Hey Monday, with whom she released one studio album and two EPs. Pope embarked on a solo career in early ...

College baseball

Constellation Field hosted the 2013, 2015, and 2016

Southland Conference baseball tournament The Southland Conference baseball tournament is the conference championship tournament in baseball for the Southland Conference. The winner of the tournament receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I baseball tournament. T ...

. Constellation Field is also an annual neutral site for a regular season game of the Silver Glove series between the

Houston Cougars The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education inst ...

and

Rice Owls Rice University athletic teams are known as the Rice Owls. The name comes from the owls in Rice's crest. Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics. A member of Conference USA, Rice sponsors teams in seven men's and seven women's NCAA sanctio ...

. The Cougars lead the all-time series 3–0 over the Owls at Constellation Field.

Rugby

In 2018, the

Houston SaberCats The Houston SaberCats are an American professional rugby union team based in Houston, Texas. The team was founded in 2017 and competes in Major League Rugby, the top-level rugby union competition in the United States and Canada that played its fi ...

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Of ...

utilized the ballpark for exhibition games of the upstart league. They later played their regular season home games at

Dyer Stadium Dyer often refers to: * Dyer (occupation), a person who is involved in dyeing Dyer may also refer to: Places * Dyer, Arkansas, a town * Dyer, Indiana, a town ** Dyer (Amtrak station) * Dyer, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in Breckinri ...

. For the 2019 season, the club anticipated having a dedicated rugby stadium for their use,

Aveva Stadium Aveva Stadium is a rugby union stadium in Houston, Texas, United States as part of Houston Sports Park and is the home of the Houston SaberCats of Major League Rugby. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 24, 2018. Naming rights for t ...

, to be completed in time for the first home game. Due to construction delays caused by weather, the SaberCats continued play at Constellation Field for the beginning of their season. They are expected to open their first home game at Aveva Stadium in April 2019.

Acquisition by the Houston Astros

On April 20, 2021, the Sugar Land City Council approved the acquisition of the Sugar Land Skeeters by the Houston Astros, as well as extended the Skeeters' Constellation Field lease until 2045.

Features

Constellation Field has one of the largest scoreboards in minor league baseball. It is also unique in that its shape resembles Texas' borders. The scoreboard, constructed by TS Sports, rises almost 100 feet above the playing field. Additionally, Constellation Field has a traditional, manually operated scoreboard in the left-field wall.

References

{{PCL Ballparks Baseball venues in Texas College baseball venues in the United States Lacrosse venues in the United States Rugby union stadiums in Houston Houston SaberCats Houston SaberCats stadiums Sugar Land, Texas Sports venues completed in 2012 Minor league baseball venues Southland Conference Baseball Tournament venues Pacific Coast League ballparks