Blue Wahoos Stadium, located in the Community Maritime Park, is a multi-use park in

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

, that includes a stadium, commercial buildings, a waterfront public park and amphitheater. The mixed use stadium holds 5,038 people and can be used for a number of events year-round, including

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, festivals, graduations, and similar events. The multi-use stadium was originally designed to be the home field of the

Pensacola Pelicans The Pensacola Pelicans were a minor league baseball team based in Pensacola, Florida. In various incarnations, they played in three different independent baseball leagues (leagues unaffiliated with Major League Baseball) from 2002 to 2010. They p ...

; it hosts the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League East, East Division. The ...

Double-A affiliate, the

Pensacola Blue Wahoos The Pensacola Blue Wahoos are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League (1964–present), Southern League and the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are based in Pensacola, Florida, and play their home ga ...

of the Southern League. The stadium is situated facing the Pensacola Bay. The playing surface is titled "Admiral Jack Fetterman Field", honoring the U.S. Navy three-star vice admiral, who retired in Pensacola and became a prominent civic leader. Along with Vince Whibbs Sr., the two were influential in getting the Community Maritime Park project approved by voters.

History

On April 28, 2009, the Pensacola City Council gave final approval for the ballpark to be built. The entire project cost $54 million and was completed in time for the Blue Wahoos' inaugural home opener on April 5, 2012. Building the ballpark cost $23,845,045.23.

Stadium description

Blue Wahoos Stadium is a , 5,038 seat multi-use venue. Construction includes precast concrete bowl seating, steel framed elevated slabs, post-tensioned slabs-on-grade, and an auger cast pile foundation with concrete grade beams and pile caps. This project was custom designed to meet the needs for the use by a minor league baseball team as well as for accommodating other sporting and festival type events. The structure and slab-on-grade was pile supported due to poor soil conditions and concern over scour from hurricanes. During steel fabrication and foundation construction, a Double-A baseball team was acquired. This acquisition required enhancements to the stadium. This was a challenge for the design team who worked diligently to adjust the structure while using newly constructed elements within the enhancements, while providing subcontractors information needed to keep construction moving forward without incurring additional mobilization fees.

Randall K. and Martha A. Hunter Amphitheater description

The amphitheater has architecturally exposed steel trusses and frames supporting curved steel roof purlins with a heavy timber, tongue-and-groove roof deck. The steel trusses and frames are designed and shaped to resemble the fronds of a palm tree. The steel structure is supported on concrete piers that are supported on a large concrete pile cap that rests on auger-cast-in-place piles. The concrete piers also support the main stage floor. The stage floor is a flat plate, thick post-tensioned concrete slab.

UWF Football

The stadium hosted the

Argonauts The Argonauts ( ; ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', named after it ...

football team of the University of West Florida (UWF) for six seasons from 2016 to 2021. On November 13, 2021, the

won a share of their first-ever

Gulf South Conference The Gulf South Conference (GSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the Southeastern United States. History Originally known as the ...

football title at the stadium in a win over Valdosta State. On November 20, 2021, UWF hosted their first-ever home

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

game at the venue.

References

External links

City of Pensacola site for Blue Wahoos Stadium

Pensacola Blue Wahoos
{{West Florida Argonauts football navbox Minor league baseball venues Sports venues in Pensacola, Florida Soccer venues in Florida Baseball venues in Florida 2012 establishments in Florida Sports venues completed in 2012 College football venues in Florida West Florida Argonauts football Populous (company) buildings Southern League (1964–present) ballparks