Jackson Field is a

baseball stadium 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 ...

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County, Michigan, Eaton County and nort ...

, home field of the

Lansing Lugnuts The Lansing Lugnuts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Athletics (baseball), Athletics. They are located in Lansing, Michigan, and play their home games at Jackson Field (Lansing), Jackson Fie ...

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 ...

team. The

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 Varsity team, varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan Army, Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the sc ...

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

team also plays select home games at Jackson Field. The stadium is situated in downtown Lansing in the Stadium District on a relatively narrow strip of land between and below Larch and Cedar streets. It is primarily used for

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 ...

, though it has also hosted an ice skating rink, an outdoor movie theater, a haunted house, and served as a concert venue for the annual

Common Ground Music Festival The Common Ground Music Festival is an annual week-long music festival that takes place in downtown Lansing, Michigan. The July festival, which began in the year 2000 and attracts 50,000-plus people each year, is located at the Louis Adado Riv ...

. Due to the dimensions of the city block in which the stadium was constructed, the right and left field fences 'notch' sharply into distances of at each foul pole.

History

The stadium replaced a block of storefronts along Michigan Avenue. Originally budgeted $10 million for construction, the construction costs rose slightly to $12.8 million.

Groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...

for the stadium took place on April 3, 1995, and it was officially opened exactly one year later on April 3, 1996 as Oldsmobile Park. Its first game was between the

teams of the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

and

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

. Two days later, the Lansing Lugnuts had their first game at the venue against the

Rockford Cubbies Rockford or Rockfords may refer to: Places United States * Rockford, Alabama, a town * Rockford, Idaho, a census-designated place * Rockford, Illinois, a city, the largest municipality of this name * Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois, a Unite ...

. On February 22, 2010, Lansing mayor

Virgil Bernero Virgil Paul "Virg" Bernero (born March 31, 1964) is an American politician and was mayor of Lansing, Michigan, elected on November 8, 2005, and re-elected on November 3, 2009. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to serving as mayor, B ...

announced that the stadium would be renamed Thomas M. Cooley Law School Stadium, a result of the park's new sponsorship agreement. In March 2010, Lansing-based Jackson National Life Insurance Company purchased the rights to name the field "Jackson Field" for 1 year. Thus, the full name of the venue was Jackson Field at Thomas M. Cooley Law School Stadium. On March 12, 2014, a $22 million renovation proposal for the stadium was announced named "The Outfield." It would include $11 million in public bonds for renovation of the actual stadium structure including new turf, and updated locker rooms, concessions and new box seats. $11 million in additional private investments which would include 80 apartments, a year-round bar and grill, and a new scoreboard. The proposal also includes the city negotiating a new contract with the team which is proposed to bring in an additional 25% revenue for the city. On September 1, 2020, the stadium announced an official name change to Jackson Field after a 7-year naming rights agreement was signed with Jackson National Life Insurance Company.

Other uses

Rugby

On October 19, 2018, the

and

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

had their rivalry match, the Battle for the Mitten, at Cooley Law School Stadium. Michigan State defeated Michigan 25-15.

Soccer

On October 25, 2018, the newly planned Lansing Ignite soccer team announced it would begin playing its home games at the stadium. The Ignite ceased operations after just one season.

Field dimensions

*Left field: *Left-center: *Center field: *Right-center: *Right field:

References

External links

Cooley Law School Stadium Website
{{Lansing-East Lansing Sports venues in Lansing, Michigan Minor league baseball venues College baseball venues in Michigan Sports venues completed in 1996 1996 establishments in Michigan Michigan State Spartans baseball Soccer venues in Michigan USL League One stadiums Midwest League ballparks