Thomas More Stadium is a stadium in

Florence, Kentucky Florence is a city in Boone County, Kentucky, United States, part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. The population was 31,946 at the 2020 census, making it the second-most populous city in Northern Kentucky, the eighth-most populous city i ...

. 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 ...

and is the home field of the Florence Y'alls of the

Frontier League The Frontier League (FL; French: ''Ligue Frontière'', LF) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 18 teams – 15 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The FL is one of the eight independent baseball leagues in North Ame ...

, an

independent baseball league An independent baseball league is a professional baseball league in the United States or Canada that is not overseen by Major League Baseball or its affiliated Minor League Baseball system (historically referred to as organized baseball). Inde ...

. It originally opened in 2004 as Champion Window Field and holds 4,500 people. On November 27, 2012, the then-named Florence Freedom announced that UC Health, the healthcare system of the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

, had signed a 10-year naming rights deal, giving the ballpark its UC Health Stadium name. In May 2021, it was reported that the team was looking for a new naming rights partner after UC Health dropped its sponsorship, and that the team would be using the name Y'alls Ballpark for their home field. In March 2022, the Y'alls announced that

Thomas More University Thomas More University is a private Catholic university in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, United States. It serves about 2,000 full and part-time students. The university was founded in 1921 by the local Benedictine Sisters as Villa Madonna College ...

had acquired the naming rights, and that the university's baseball team would play at Thomas More Stadium starting in 2023.

History

2004 ownership scandal

In July 2004, shortly after the opening of Champion Window Field, contractors began filing liens against the Florence Freedom, accusing the team of not paying for work done on the stadium. Eventually, 33 liens totaling $4.7 million were filed. In August,

Fifth Third Bank Fifth Third Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the parent company of Fifth Third Bank (5/3 Bank), which operates 1,100 branches and 2,400 automated teller machines, which are located in 11 states: Oh ...

sued team part-owner Chuck Hildebrant for failing to repay multiple loans taken out to finance the stadium construction. As part of the lawsuit, it was revealed that Hildebrant had used of land that he did not own as collateral for the loans, and that he had given the bank a forged document as proof of ownership. Hildebrant was later the subject of a federal white collar crime investigation and sentenced to prison in October 2005. The team was sold in November 2004 to a new ownership group led by Clint Brown, who was not associated with Hildebrant's ownership group.

Other uses

From 2006 to 2008, the Northern Kentucky Norse baseball team, then of

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division II, moved from on-campus Bill Aker Baseball Complex to play its home schedule at Champion Window Field. Thomas More Stadium is currently home to the

Mount St. Joseph University The Mount St. Joseph University (The Mount) is a private university, private, Catholic church, Roman Catholic university in Delhi Township, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1920 by the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. The university enrol ...

Lions.

References

Baseball venues in Kentucky Minor league baseball venues Frontier League ballparks Buildings and structures in Boone County, Kentucky Tourist attractions in Boone County, Kentucky 2004 establishments in Kentucky Sports venues completed in 2004

Stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

Florence, Kentucky College baseball venues in the United States {{Kentucky-baseball-venue-stub