Coca-Cola Park 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 two field sections called the infield and the outfield. The infield is an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined in part ba ...

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in eastern Pennsylvania, United States. The county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, it is the List o ...

. It is the home field for the

Lehigh Valley IronPigs The Lehigh Valley IronPigs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and they are named in reference to pig iron, used ...

, the Triple-A level

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

affiliate of the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

. Coca-Cola Park accommodates 10,178 fans, including auxiliary areas (lawn, dugout suites, and Tiki Terrace), and cost $50.25 million to build. On March 7, 2007,

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

to the stadium were awarded to

the Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

Bottling Co. of the Lehigh Valley.

Features

The stadium features the team "clubhouse" store, which sells team apparel. The Bacon Strip is an area immediately behind the right field wall that provides patrons the opportunity to stand and socialize during the game. The team's name is drawn from

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...

, used in the manufacturing of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

, a vital industry in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...

for most of the 20th century. References to the "pig" theme are used in the majority of concession stands and stores. The Picnic Patio is immediately adjacent to left field that features buffet style food and can be booked by groups. The club level of the stadium features an indoor concourse with access to the club level seats, the suites and the two party porches. Dugout Suites are situated immediately behind home plate and slightly sunken in below field level. There is a kid zone with a playground area and a number of games, including speed pitch and slides. In 2012, the park added the Tiki Terrace in Left Field over the bullpens which features large group seating, tables for four, and a bar area accessible to all ticketed fans. The maximum capacity is 10,178, which includes 8,278 seats plus seating for 1,900 on the grass

berm A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of Soil compaction, compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a b ...

in center field. There is one main scoreboard which is located at the 400' mark on the field. The scoreboard consists of a 20' × 50' high definition video board, a 76' × 4' LED ribbon board, as well as a large

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

bottle, which also serves as a firework launcher when a run is scored. In addition to its traditional stadium seating, Coca-Cola Park has a wide variety of seating options, including the grass berm, picnic benches, fold-down seats, and standing room. The initial estimate of the IronPigs stadium was $48.4 million. Its final price tag of $50.25 million, just four percent over the estimate, makes Coca-Cola Park one of the most expensive

stadiums in the nation.

History

2006 groundbreaking

Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new ballpark were held on September 6, 2006, and construction was completed in February 2008. Coca-Cola Park was built on land formerly owned by

LSI Corporation LSI Logic Corporation was an American company founded in Santa Clara, California, was a pioneer in the ASIC and EDA industries. It evolved over time to design and sell semiconductors and software that accelerated storage and networking in dat ...

. The field dimensions and wall heights are similar to those at

Citizens Bank Park Citizens Bank Park is a baseball stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the city's South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Home to Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies, the stadium opened April 3, 2004. It is named after Citizens Financi ...

South Philadelphia South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west."." ''City of Philadelphia''. Retrieved November 8, ...

differing in left field being six feet closer (323 feet, with the addition of the new "Pig Pen" seating section in 2015, to the foul pole compared to 329), center field being one foot shorter and the right field foul pole being five feet closer (325 feet in Allentown compared to 330 feet at Citizens Bank Park). With its completion, Coca-Cola Park is Allentown's newest stadium, but it is not the city's largest. That distinction belongs to

J. Birney Crum Stadium J. Birney Crum Stadium is a 15,000-capacity outdoor stadium in Allentown, Pennsylvania, used predominantly by three Allentown-based high school football teams. As of 2024, it is the largest high school football stadium in the Mid-Atlantic region ...

, which has a seating capacity in excess of 15,000, and is the second largest outdoor high school stadium in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. The layout of Coca-Cola Park is slightly different from most ballparks with the main entrance located on the right field line rather than the common location behind home plate. Fans with club seating tickets, however, have a designated entrance behind home plate.

First concert: Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and John Mellencamp concert

The park hosted its first major non-sporting event on July 14, 2009 with a concert headlined by

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

, and

John Mellencamp John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation ...

. More than 10,000 people attended the five-hour show, which was sold out. Following the event's success, Coca-Cola Park management indicated there was a good possibility other concerts would be held at the park in the future.

2010 Triple-A All Star Game

The stadium hosted the 2010

Triple-A All-Star Game The Triple-A All-Star Game was an annual baseball game held from 1988 to 2019 between professional players from the affiliated Triple-A leagues of Minor League Baseball. These leagues were the International League (IL) and Pacific Coast League (P ...

in which the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...

All-Stars defeated 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 (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

All-Stars, 2–1.

Usage by the Phillies

The stadium served as the

' alternate training site in 2020 when the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

forced cancellation of the

season and abbreviated the Major League Baseball season.

Rehab stints

In August 2022, as Phillies' star right fielder

Bryce Harper Bryce Aron Max Harper (born October 16, 1992) is an American professional baseball first baseman and right fielder for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Washington Nationals. One o ...

was designated to the IronPigs in a final step in his rehabilitation stint as part of his comeback from a fractured thumb, IronPigs' fans in Allentown greeted Harper's appearance enthusiastically, and games featuring Harper against the

Gwinnett Stripers The Gwinnett Stripers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at Coolray Field in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia ...

at Coca-Cola Park quickly sold out to the stadium's 10,100 capacity. In his August 23 appearance with the IronPigs at Coca-Cola Park, Harper homered twice against the Stripers. In 2015

Chase Utley Chase Cameron Utley (born December 17, 1978) is an American former professional baseball second baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 16 seasons, primarily for the Philadelphia Phillies. He also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers. ...

had a rehab stint in Lehigh Valley. During that stint there was a home game where he hit a home run to a sold out crowd.

Seating options

The seating options at Coca-Cola park include: The Oasis "Island" where each island includes circular half-table cocktail-style seating for the four fans in the party and wait service, club and field level seating, the "Bacon Strip" which is bar stool seating in left field, the "Pig Pen" which are seats just beyond the home run fence in right field, and general admission which allows fans access to the lawn, the Rum Bar area, the Tiki Terrace Bar and all standing room drink rail areas on the concourse.

Location and transportation

The stadium is located on the east side of

Allentown Allentown may refer to: Places * Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California * Allentown, Georgia, a city in four counties in Georgia * Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Tazewell County * Allentown, New Jersey, a boroug ...

. The eastern segment of American Parkway provides access to the main entrance to the stadium and is accessible from U.S. Route 22. Union Boulevard and Airport Road serve as local arterials to the stadium. Paid parking is available on several on-site lots.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control 2008 establishments in Pennsylvania American Parkway Baseball in Allentown, Pennsylvania Baseball venues in Pennsylvania

Park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

International League ballparks Music venues in Pennsylvania Populous (company) buildings Sports venues in Allentown, Pennsylvania Sports venues completed in 2008 Tourist attractions in Allentown, Pennsylvania