Metairie, Louisiana, after the 2019 season.
Riverfront Stadium has a total seating capacity of 10,025 people with 6,000 in fixed seating in addition to luxury suites and a grass
berm
A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of 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 border/ separation ...
in
right field
A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In t ...
.
When not used for baseball, the city plans to use the facility for sports festivals, high school football, concerts, and an
ice rink
An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...
in winter.
The new ballpark will share hosting of the
National Baseball Congress World Series (NBC World Series) with
Eck Stadium
Eck Stadium is a baseball stadium in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is located on the south side of 21st Street between Hillside and Oliver on the campus of Wichita State University in northeast Wichita.
The stadium is home of the Wichit ...
at
Wichita State
Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of stud ...
.
History
Previous stadiums
Island Park baseball stadium was built in 1912 on what was then
Ackerman Island
Ackerman Island was a sandbar island located in the Arkansas River in downtown Wichita, Kansas, United States. It was located on the north side of the Douglas Street Bridge.
History
The sandbar started to form in the 1870s, supposedly due to a d ...
in the
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United S ...
, north of the Douglas Street bridge. Baseball was played there from 1912 to 1933, when the stadium was torn down so the island could be removed to widen the river into one channel.
Lawrence Stadium was built on the site of the current stadium in 1934 as a
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, in ...
(WPA) project during the
Great Depression. In 1978, it was renamed to
Lawrence–Dumont Stadium
Lawrence–Dumont Stadium, previously known as Lawrence Stadium, was a baseball stadium in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It was located on the northwest corner of McLean Boulevard and Maple Street, along the west bank of the Arkansas River, in ...
. In November 2018, the stadium was demolished to make room for the new Riverfront Stadium. The
National Baseball Congress World Series was played entirely at Lawrence–Dumont Stadium from 1935 until 2018.
Current stadium
Riverfront Stadium was built on the site of the former Lawrence–Dumont Stadium.
Ground was broken for the ballpark in February 2019. A
topping out
In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlaye ...
ceremony, marking the placement of the last steel beam, was held on August 7, 2019. The stadium name was announced on March 6, 2020.
The ballpark was built to host the
Wichita Wind Surge
The Wichita Wind Surge are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Wichita, Kansas, and began play in 2021 at Riverfront Stadium.
The Wind Surge were supposed to b ...
, a
Triple-A team of 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 level, which is one grade below Major League Bas ...
. However, a combination of the cancellation of the 2020 season due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
and
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...
's realignment of the minor leagues for 2021, resulted in the team dropping down to the
Double-A Texas League
The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...
without having played a Triple-A game.
On April 10, 2021, the
Wichita State Shockers baseball team hosted
the University of Houston in the first game played at Riverfront Stadium.
References
External links
City of Wichita Stadium Project
{{Kansas-baseball-venue-stub
2019 establishments in Kansas
Baseball venues in Kansas
Sports venues in Wichita, Kansas
Texas League ballparks