Dutchess Stadium

Heritage Financial Park is a baseball park in Fishkill, New York. Home to the Hudson Valley Renegades, the park originally opened on June 18, 1994. Originally called Dutchess Stadium from 1994 to 2023, it assumed its current name in March 2023 when a naming-rights deal with Heritage Financial Credit Union was completed.

It has a capacity of 5,400 people and is located on New York State Route 9D across Interstate 84 from Fishkill Correctional Facility.

History

Construction of the stadium began in April 1994 after approval by the Dutchess County Legislature, and opened less than three months later in June 1994.

Tenants

The stadium is primarily used for baseball, as the home field of the Hudson Valley Renegades minor league baseball team, which as of 2024 is a South Atlantic League affiliate of the New York Yankees.

The Manhattan College baseball team played home games at the stadium from 2015 to 2019, before returning to Van Cortlandt Park. From 2009 to at least 2018, the stadium hosted the Hudson Valley Baseball Classic between Marist College and the United States Military Academy.

Besides baseball, it is also used for concerts, as well as high school and college graduations. The stadium hosts K104's annual KFest concert held in early June. Performing artists have included Akon, Rihanna, Fat Joe, Counting Crows, Collective Soul, Wilco, Def Leppard, Bob Dylan, Drake and Adam Lambert, among others.

The stadium's first football tenant, the Hudson Valley Fort of the Fall Experimental Football League, took up residence in the stadium in October 2015. Some high school football playoff contests were also to be held at the stadium that year, but the stadium was later determined to be unsafe as a football venue and those games were canceled.

Features

Heritage Financial Park has a capacity of 5,400 and features an AstroTurf playing surface, with a symmetrical outfield dimensions measuring 325 feet down the lines and 400 feet to center field. Clubhouses are located in the outfield corners, with bullpens beyond the outfield wall. A large LED scoreboard stands beyond the fence in left-center.

The stadium, built in 1994 with a capacity of 4,500, comprising a roughly-symmetrical two-level stand which stretched from just past first base to just past third base, and included concessions, a kids area and play areas. The entire field, excluding the pitchers mound and home plate area, was converted to AstroTurf in the spring of 2014.

With the restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, and the subsequent change in affiliation from the Tampa Bay Rays to the New York Yankees, major renovations were undertaken between 2022 an 2024 to improve player and team facilities and enhance the fan experience at the ballpark. Renovations were completed in keeping with Major League Baseball Player Development License, which included modernized facility standards for Minor League teams.

Upgrades to the stadium involved renovating the existing clubhouse in right field for use by visiting teams and constructing a new home clubhouse in left field. Bullpens were moved from an exposed location in foul territory to beyond the outfield fence. Improvements were made to batting cages in right field, and the entire 2014 playing surface was replaced in time for the 2024 season with a brand new surface comparable to turf fields used in the major leagues.

Fan-facing upgrades involved the extension of seating along the left field line, adjacent to and atop the new home clubhouse. Standard field-level seating was extended toward the left field corner, with a rooftop party deck and a premium club lounge built above the clubhouse facility. Renovations expanded seating to a 5,400 capacity, and for the first team, fans can sit in fair territory beyond the outfield wall.

References

External links

Hudson Valley Renegades: Dutchess StadiumDutchess Stadium and the Hudson Valley Renegades Review: A Wedding and a Ball Game

{{South Atlantic League ballparks

Sports venues in Dutchess County, New York
American football venues in New York (state)
Baseball venues in New York (state)
Minor league baseball venues
Manhattan Jaspers baseball
College baseball venues in the United States
Sports venues in the New York metropolitan area
Sports venues completed in 1994
1994 establishments in New York (state)
Fishkill, New York
Hudson Valley Fort
South Atlantic League ballparks