Grand Prairie Stadium (formerly QuikTrip Park and AirHogs Stadium) is a

cricket ground Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and former

ballpark 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 ...

Grand Prairie, Texas Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas, Tarrant, and Ellis counties of Texas, in the United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It had a population of 175,396 according to the 2010 census, making it ...

. Opened in May 2008, it served as the home stadium of the

Texas AirHogs The Texas AirHogs were a professional baseball team based in Grand Prairie, Texas from 2008 to 2020. The AirHogs were members of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. Be ...

of the

American Association of Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor lea ...

from 2008 through 2019, and of the

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syst ...

soccer team

Texas United Texas United is an American soccer club that currently competes in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The club plays its home games at the John Clark Stadium. In March 2017, it was announced that the club had been gra ...

from 2017 to 2019. After the AirHogs folded in October 2020, it was announced that American Cricket Enterprises—the commercial partner of

USA Cricket USA Cricket (USAC) is the governing body of cricket in the United States. USA Cricket operates all of the United States national representative cricket sides, including the men's and women's national teams and youth teams, as well as Minor Lea ...

—had acquired the lease to AirHogs Stadium, and planned to redevelop the ballpark as a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

pitch. The $20 million redevelopment began in April 2022, after which the stadium is expected to host a Dallas-based team in the domestic

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...

league

Major League Cricket Major League Cricket (MLC) is an upcoming professional Twenty20 cricket league in the United States. Operated by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) and sanctioned by USA Cricket, it plans to begin play on July 13, 2023, with six teams in major ...

, and serve as a home and training facility for the United States national team.

History

The ballpark was constructed for the newly-formed Texas AirHogs baseball team; Tulsa-based convenience store chain

QuikTrip The QuikTrip Corporation, more commonly known as QuikTrip (QT), is an American chain of convenience stores based in Tulsa, Oklahoma that primarily operates in the Midwestern, Southern, and Southeastern United States as well as in Arizona. QuikT ...

funded and acquired the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

to the stadium, considering it a part of the company's 50th anniversary. In 2013, its natural grass surface was replaced with Matrix artificial turf. By 2016, after the expiration of QuikTrip's naming rights, the park was later referred to as The Ballpark in Grand Prairie or AirHogs Stadium. In 2017, the AirHogs' ownership group Neltex Sports Group established a new Premier Development League (PDL) soccer team,

, which would play home matches at AirHogs Stadium. In 2020, the Texas AirHogs opted out of the American Association season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Texas The COVID-19 pandemic in Texas is a part of the ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The state of Texas confirmed its ...

, and then terminated their membership in the league in October of that year.

Conversion to a cricket pitch

On November 17, 2020, it was announced that American Cricket Enterprises had signed a long-term lease for the stadium, which will undergo redevelopment to convert it into a facility that can host domestic and international

matches, and a Dallas-area team for its upcoming

Twenty20 cricket Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

league

, the US governing body, also announced that the facility would be used as a high-performance training center. In May 2021,

announced that Major League Cricket had been pushed back from 2022 to a 2023 launch due to a "lack of high-quality cricket stadiums" in the United States. It was also announced that the stadium renovations were set to begin the same month, and would last from mid-2022 to summer 2023. With the acquisition of the stadium, Texas United began playing most of their home matches on the campus of the

University of Texas at Dallas The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD or UT Dallas) is a public research university in Richardson, Texas. It is one of the largest public universities in the Dallas area and the northernmost institution of the University of Texas system. It w ...

beginning in the 2021 season. The renovations include refurbishment and enhancement of the stadium’s 13 luxury suites and Hall of Fame and Officer Club Rooms, installation of "premium seating experiences" around the field, and the renovation and reopening of the stadium’s sports bar facility. Other cricket amenities such as training nets, batting lanes, and outside turf fields are planned to be added in "subsequent renovation phases". Dallas-based architect HKS was retained by ACE for this stadium, with the Manhattan Construction Company tapped to act as Construction Manager. In March 2022, ACE stated that it expected to complete the project by March 2023, with the stadium being part of a $110 million investment into new and refurbished cricket-specific stadiums for MLC, and other ventures such as the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Ground broke in April 2022, and construction started that July. The project is expected to cost $20 million.

Tenants

Texas AirHogs

The park was built for the

of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

in 2007. They began play (as the Grand Prairie AirHogs) in May 2008 and finished their inaugural season with a final record of 56–40, also winning the Southern Division title before falling to the Sioux Falls Canaries in the finals. A few years later, they would win the 2011 American Association championship by winning a decisive game five at QuikTrip Park. The AirHogs folded in October 2020. The AirHogs hosted the American Association All-Star Game on July 21, 2009.

Dallas Desire

The Dallas Desire were one of two teams that were introduced to the women's Lingerie Football League (now

Legends Football League The Extreme Football League (X League) is an American women's semi-professional tackle football league. The league was originally founded in 2009 as the Lingerie Football League (LFL), and later rebranded as the Legends Football League in 2013. ...

) in 2004. They played two home games of their 2009 season in Grand Prairie. The team then moved to the Cotton Bowl for the 2010 season.

Texas United

In 2017, new Premier Development League (PDL) soccer team Texas United announced that they would play their inaugural season at Airhogs Stadium.

Southern Arkansas University Muleriders

The Mulerider baseball team has used Airhog Stadium to host their Air Hog DII Classic since 2015. This "Classic" has featured several of the top teams in NCAA DII College Baseball. The Muleriders did not return for the 2019 Baseball season.

Other

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

Region V Baseball Tournament: 2013 * WAC baseball tournament:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division II College World Series: 2017

Gallery

File:QuikTripParknearcomplete.JPG, Picture of the first base side two weeks before opening day 2008 File:Quiktrip airhogs2.jpg, Picture of action during an AirHogs game on Aug 16, 2008 File:Quiktrip panorama.jpg, Panoramic picture taken from center field. File:Smile Empty Soul SXSW2014.jpg,

Smile Empty Soul Smile Empty Soul is an American rock band, originally from Santa Clarita, California, United States. It was started in 1998 by Sean Danielsen (vocals and guitar), Ryan Martin (bass), and Derek Gledhill (drums). Following the departure of Gled ...

performing at South by So What?! music festival in March 2014 File:One Soul SXSW 2013 002.jpg, Dallas alternative rock ensemble One Soul performing at South by So What?! on October 26, 2013

References

External links

Texas AirHogs
{{Premier Development League stadiums Buildings and structures in Grand Prairie, Texas Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States Minor league baseball venues Baseball venues in Texas Baseball venues in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Legends Football League venues Sports in Grand Prairie, Texas 2008 establishments in Texas Sports venues completed in 2008 Soccer venues in Texas