HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Homestead Sports Complex was a
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 ...
training facility located less than three miles from downtown
Homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...
,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. The facility seated 6,500 and expanded to 9,000, and provided parking for over 3,900 vehicles. A 200-bed dormitory facility located on the grounds of the Homestead Sports Complex complemented the training facilities. The dormitories consisted of 30 single rooms and 84 double rooms that were complete with restrooms, showers, dressing areas, a full service kitchen and recreational areas.


History

In 1991 the
City of Homestead Homestead is a city within Miami-Dade County in the U.S. state of Florida, between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area. It is a principa ...
built the Sports Complex at a price tag of $22 million in order to provide a
spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...
facility for the
Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...
. The stadium was widely recognized as being state-of-the-art for the time period, as it included multiple practice facilities as well as dormitories for players. The Indians had previously played in the
Cactus League Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring ...
in Arizona but had signed a deal to make Homestead their long-term spring training home. Cleveland was due to begin full-time play at the stadium in the 1993 season. In 1992 they had already begun moving equipment and personnel to Florida. However, on August 24, 1992,
Hurricane Andrew Hurricane Andrew was a compact, but very powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that struck the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana in August 1992. It was the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures dama ...
made landfall in Homestead as a Category 5
cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an ant ...
with winds reaching 165 mph. The stadium, directly in the path of the hurricane, was decimated. The Indians quickly began meetings with lawyers and eventually they exercised an "out clause" in the contract. The city decided to immediately re-construct the stadium hoping that they could have it built for the 1994 spring training season in order for the Indians, or perhaps another team to use. However, without a spring facility for the 1993 season Cleveland was forced to look quickly for another home. The
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
were leaving
Winter Haven, Florida Winter Haven is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. It is located about east of Tampa, Florida, Tampa and about southwest of Orlando, Florida, Orlando, with neighboring Lakeland, Florida, Lakeland located to its west. The city's popul ...
's Chain of Lakes Park after 26 years, allowing the Indians to use Chain of Lakes as their spring facility. However, knowing the situation that the Indians were in, Winter Haven allowed the team to use the stadium on the condition that they sign a 10-year contract. Cleveland had no other choice, so they signed the deal and left Homestead without a team. Homestead decided to continue re-building the stadium, assuming that at some point in the future they could lure another team to use it as their spring facility. The stadium was re-constructed in a very short period of time, as the original blueprints were kept. However, after about five years without a tenant it started to appear that the facility may never be used as a home for baseball. In the meantime, new spring training facilities were constructed such as
Roger Dean Stadium Roger Dean Stadium (officially known as Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium) is a baseball stadium located in the Abacoa community of the town of Jupiter, Florida. The stadium was built in 1998, holds 6,871 people, and features luxury sky-box seating, ...
in
Jupiter, Florida Jupiter is the northernmost town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. According to the 2020 US Census, the town had a population of 61,047. It is 84 miles north of Miami and 15 miles north of West Palm Beach, Florida, West Palm Beach. ...
and
Champion Stadium The Stadium at the ESPN Wide World of Sports is a baseball stadium located at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in the Walt Disney World Resort. The stadium was built in 1997. It was most recently the home of the Rookie-league GCL Braves, u ...
at
Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...
. The new stadiums began to surpass Homestead Sports Complex in terms of facility size and technology. The city had to look at other options in order to pay the nearly $450,000 per year in order to maintain it. It was offered as a home for the
US Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer at ...
to conduct its training, but they declined. The Florida Legends of the Ladies League Baseball (LLB) played their home games at Homestead in 1998. In 1999 the facility was used as part of the filming of the
Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...
movie ''
Any Given Sunday ''Any Given Sunday'' is a 1999 American sports drama film directed by Oliver Stone and produced by Clayton Townsend, Dan Halsted, and Lauren Shuler Donner from a screenplay by Stone and John Logan based on a story written by Logan and Da ...
''. In 2002 an
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
series called ''Baseball Wives'' was to be primarily filmed at the stadium, but the show was canceled before ever getting off the ground. In 2004, it served as the home of the Florida Thunder, the city's
Pro Cricket The history of United States cricket begins in the 18th century. The first international game was between the US and Canada and held in 1844 in front of an audience of 5,000 spectators in New York. Among early Americans, cricket was as popular ...
team. The facility hosted local youth and adult sports on the training grounds but the internal workings of the stadium such as bathrooms, electrical and plumbing had gone into disrepair. The park was used for the City of Homestead's
Fourth of July Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing th ...
celebration until the Homestead-Miami Speedway took over the duties in 2010, attracting an exponentially larger crowd than ever before. The facility was damaged again by 2017's
Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Hurricane Maria, Maria two weeks later. At the time, it was considered ...
. After Hurricane Irma, the City Commission requested a feasibility study on the complex. Five of the six options in the study involve tearing down the ball park. The city solicited demolition bids. The ballpark was demolished on May 20, 2019. Prior to the structure being demolished, it served as a temporary police station while the city awaited the completion of its new police headquarters building. The city's police department had vacated its old headquarters in the Homestead Historic Downtown District prior to completion of the new headquarters building.


References


External links


City of Homestead page
* {{Homestead, Florida Baseball venues in Florida Cricket grounds in the United States Homestead, Florida Sports complexes in Florida Sports venues completed in 1991 Sports venues demolished in 2019 1991 establishments in Florida 2019 disestablishments in Florida