Sprindale Minor League Sports Complex and Minor League Baseball Stadium

[masons_dad1]

To answer your question I didn't go because I'm too busy buying a house and packing. I created a dedicated Nats topic in the NWA coffeehouse subforum so fans can discuss the Nats and Texas League in general.

Did anybody here go? I know they lost the first game but sounds like a huge crowd was there. I heard it was a lot of fun but tht parking was a problem due to a muddy field and that there were some small problems with the concessions. That's to be expected on opening night with an overflow crowd. sounds like San Antonio might not have been the ideal team to start off with- lot's of offense for them and none for us.

[Mith242]

I didn't go either. I've been busy trying to get ready for vacation. But yeah sounds like they had a lot of people out, I think it was around 7,800 when the stadium 'seats' 7,500. Yeah I heard traffic was bad. Until they get the roads worked on I guess that's going to be a continuing concern. And I did hear about some concession problems as well. But surely everyone realizes it was opening night and there were going to be a few problems. It's too bad the game wasn't a little more competitive. But still I'm sure it was a very fun atmosphere. The topic for the Naturals is a good idea. This topic was mainly intended on stadium construction. I had started putting some info in the general sports topic in the Coffee House subforum. But it could use it's own.

[cocothief]

I went to a game a few nights back.

I will say this. I was VERY pleasantly suprised by our little park.

First off, it was a piece of cake getting in and out. I had heard that it was difficult. Infrastructure will only improve, but as of now, it ain't that bad.

The atmosphere is great, aside from the fact that the park is in a cow pasture. This little detail isn't lost on the owners. When a foul ball goes out of play into the parking lot, instead of a sound-effect for breaking glass, they play a sound effect of a cow mooing. It was pretty funny.

Visually, the architecture is really nice. After having visited the Travs park in LR, I prefer ours. LR's park is another throw-back retro wannabe park, bred with a poorly executed train station motif. The overall feel of Dickey Stephens is that its top-heavy, and it actually resembles a chicken-house in shape.

Arvest, on the other hand, is clean and modern, but with natural stone elements all around. Overall, the architecture is very complimentary to the surrounding natural environment, and in keeping with Fay Jones and Marlon Blackwell's local vernacular styles. Its perfect for NWA.

There is a natural area to the southwest of the park that appears to have been preserved. There are large mature trees in a draw, and what looks like an empty retention pond.

The area is still rural, but considering our mascot is Nature, it works fine.

I just hope Springdale can do right by that area's potential and get some high quality development nearby in the future.

[Mith242]

I went to a game a few nights back.

I will say this. I was VERY pleasantly suprised by our little park.

First off, it was a piece of cake getting in and out. I had heard that it was difficult. Infrastructure will only improve, but as of now, it ain't that bad.

The atmosphere is great, aside from the fact that the park is in a cow pasture. This little detail isn't lost on the owners. When a foul ball goes out of play into the parking lot, instead of a sound-effect for breaking glass, they play a sound effect of a cow mooing. It was pretty funny.

Visually, the architecture is really nice. After having visited the Travs park in LR, I prefer ours. LR's park is another throw-back retro wannabe park, bred with a poorly executed train station motif. The overall feel of Dickey Stephens is that its top-heavy, and it actually resembles a chicken-house in shape.

Arvest, on the other hand, is clean and modern, but with natural stone elements all around. Overall, the architecture is very complimentary to the surrounding natural environment, and in keeping with Fay Jones and Marlon Blackwell's local vernacular styles. Its perfect for NWA.

There is a natural area to the southwest of the park that appears to have been preserved. There are large mature trees in a draw, and what looks like an empty retention pond.

The area is still rural, but considering our mascot is Nature, it works fine.

I just hope Springdale can do right by that area's potential and get some high quality development nearby in the future.

[cocothief]

Thanks for the update and info. Really the only time I heard anything bad about the traffic was opening night and well that's just to be expected. I still haven't had a chance to make it up there yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I've always heard people rant about how nice NLR's new ballpark is. It's certainly got some nice features to it but overall it doesn't do much for me. The location is great and the interior of the ballpark is nice. But the exterior doesn't do anything for me. The entrance reminds me more of a big church or something. I'm not slamming the ballpark or anything and not trying to get anymore NWA vs LR feuding going. I am curious to see how our modern styled ballpark will look like. It's not something you really see much of. The Isotopes Ballpark in Albuquerque has a somewhat modern feel to it. But it also incorporates a sorta 1950's feel to it also. But still rather interesting and not something you see everyday.

[thewizard16]

I still haven't gotten to go to watch a game yet, but I'm hoping to make a game or two really soon. Our mascot is terrifying though, I saw that ... creature... on the television the other day. Unfortunately, I feel it plays off some stereotypes that aren't very flattering for the state/area, but then again, what the heck else would you have as a mascot when you're called the "Naturals"? It's a hard name to make a mascot for. Of course, I don't think I'd prefer a giant stuffed chicken, haha.

[theman]

Thanks for the update and info. Really the only time I heard anything bad about the traffic was opening night and well that's just to be expected. I still haven't had a chance to make it up there yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I've always heard people rant about how nice NLR's new ballpark is. It's certainly got some nice features to it but overall it doesn't do much for me. The location is great and the interior of the ballpark is nice. But the exterior doesn't do anything for me. The entrance reminds me more of a big church or something. I'm not slamming the ballpark or anything and not trying to get anymore NWA vs LR feuding going. I am curious to see how our modern styled ballpark will look like. It's not something you really see much of. The Isotopes Ballpark in Albuquerque has a somewhat modern feel to it. But it also incorporates a sorta 1950's feel to it also. But still rather interesting and not something you see everyday.

[Mith242]

That ballpark with the entrance that reminds you of a big church won ballpark of the year by Ballpark Digest last year. Let's see how Arvest Ballpark fares. Not tryng to get anymore NWA vs LR feuding going on.

[cocothief]

That ballpark with the entrance that reminds you of a big church won ballpark of the year by Ballpark Digest last year. Let's see how Arvest Ballpark fares. Not tryng to get anymore NWA vs LR feuding going on.

[Aporkalypse]

Ballpark of the year?

Well, the architecture is pretty lame IMO. And what does the interior have that Arvest doesn't?

Not much, if anything.

It does have a nice skyline view, but the park itself isn't anything grand.

I've been to both and I don't really understand why some claim Dickey Stephens is better other than its location.

[Mith242]

Yeah I've gotten the impression attendance isn't where a lot of people thought it would be. I saw one mention of someone saying at least it's better than the attendance at Wichita, but really that's not saying much. Now that's not to say it's been really horrible, but considering it's the first year usually it's better. It's not a good sign of what might be to come in 2-3 years.

[zman9810]

I thin the weather has had a lot to do with the attendance being down for the Razorbacks and Naturals both. Cold wet weather just isn't good baseball weather. I imagine attendance at Arvest will pick up when the college season is over and we get into summer weather. I haven't been yet but when the Hogs finish up I plan on being a regular.

[theman]

The Democrat Gazette talked about attendance at the two stadiums for the first series between the Travelers and Naturals. Dickey Stephens averaged 6469 for their first homestand with the Naturals while Arvest Ballpark averaged 4657 for theirs with the Travelers which was lower than their season average of 4794. The article did mention that the weather in Springdale was not that great that weekend and on that Saturday the Red White game was played. It will be interesting to see how the numbers play out in the summer when the Razorbacks aren't playing and the weather is nicer.

[Mith242]

That is an interesting point. This hasn't been the greatest Spring weather. Guess we'll have to see what happens when it warms up.

[cocothief]

I don't think anybody needs to be concerned about attendance at Naturals games. First, the weather has been off and on cold and decent so far.

Second, NWAers are still going to Arkansas games at Baum. Just yesterday, here are the attendance numbers for the overlapping weekend.

Sunday

Baum- 6426

Arvest - 5458

So almost 12,000 people were watching live baseball in NWA on Sunday. Not too bad.

I realize the two teams only have had one overlapping series, but still. A LOT of baseball has been played in NWA this spring already, and that has to affect attendance for Naturals games.

For example, a lot of the same companies have suites at both locations. Imagine maintaing TWO suites with food, drink, et al, and having twice the tickets to give away. I was at a suite at Baum for Friday's Bama game, and I'll be at a suite at Tuesday's Nats game. My brother and I went to a Nats game a week or so ago. Just by attending two games at each venue, we'll have attended FOUR baseball games in ten days. That's a lot of baseball, I don't care who you are. In fact, I suggested we go to the Sunday Bama game, and my bro says "I'm about all baseballed out".

I am positive that this summer when its the only game in town, Arvest will see some really great crowds.

I wouldn't expect us to outdraw LR in our first season anyway. We're a smaller metro, and people aren't yet in the routine of going to the stadium.

Arkansas Razorback baseball games weren't much of an event 10 years ago. Attendance has risen dramatically over time. Thats because its become more of a generally accepted thing for businessmen to knock off at 2 pm for weekday games and make an event of it. Parking is better. People know the routine.

I know its generally assumed that early on, attendance will peak and then will even out. I really think that given the special circumstance of having an extremely well-attended SEC team (most well attended in the nation some years) in the same metro, you will see Nats attendance peak later in the season.

[cocothief]

You and I are 180 degrees different on this. My wife and I were really underwhelmed by Arvest. The biggest problem of course, is location. I'd never seen a baseball park in such a remote location. Still, the design that was supposedly modern had windows I equate to 1960s buildings such as the original UAMS hospital with lots of stone added around it. In fact, my wife and I both thought that some of the "modern" elements really felt 1960s era, though the large sail-like awnings over the skyboxes felt very modern. Somehow the park didn't seem as enclosed - the outfield seems open. Some features were neat, I liked some of the aluminum awnings but again I feel these will quickly look dated. There doesn't seem to be much of a theme and nothing to really make the park unique.

I really like Dickey-Stephens' railroad theme, lighting, brick, etc - it just feels much more expensive. The pavillions, concessions, seating, etc on the berms makes the park feel fully enclosed. The problem about a modern park is in two decades it won't seem modern at all, it will feel grossly outdated. I've just been to too many major league parks where this was the case. Busch Stadium frankly, is a great example.

The one thing that I did think Arvest had was the playground, they actually did a much better job with that than the one at Dickey-Stephens which was an add on a year after it opened and just plain doesn't fit.

Dickey-Stephens was named Ballpark of the Year and had glowing reviews by the websites and magazines that review them. Of course location is going to hurt Arvest far more than the structure itself.

Now, attendance hasn't been what you would expect for a new franchise. Corpus Christi and Springfield had far more impressive debuts. I'm been wondering why the numbers haven't been better. UA baseball is down this year.

[Mith242]

Springdale could have done much more for itself by locating Arvest near its downtown. Still, it wouldn't ever have the skyline view of LR.

[Stormcrow]

Yeah that's still my big complaint is they put it out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah I know they'll eventually put in developments around it. But I think having it more in the city would have been nice. It certainly could have helped bring Springdale's downtown area alive if they could have found someplace around that area to put it. But that seems to be a lesson that NWA really hasn't picked up on yet. Granted in this particular situation I believe the George family helped provide some of that land to the city. They of course did it because they still own land near it and the ballpark will help in their future developments. I don't know if Springdale would have been able to pull it off and then also try to centrally locate the ballpark unless someone was willing to help out and shell out some money themselves.

[Architect]

[i posted this in the Little Rock forum as well.]

I was in NWA this weekend visiting family and attending the Razorback game (ugh), and on our way back I took a quick detour around Arvest Ballpark. I was very impressed with the facility....though the setting gets a zero point zero.

The reason that I was impressed is two-fold. First, reciprocal to the complaint I have about Dickey-Stephens, the seating bowl is substantial both visually and physically in the number of rows, so not only does it look impressive, it is better weighted to the sky boxes above (at DS, the whole upper structure is bigger than the stands, which looks awkward). Second, regardless of whether or not you prefer a more traditional design (DS) or a Modern structure (Arvest), Arvest is much better executed. It looks high quality, and is progressive...looks like the 21st Century, you know, which it is. DS on the other hand is poorly executed, cut corners are rampant and it results in a hokey design in my opinion. The setting though at DS is 100 times more vibrant and dynamic...great views of the skyline and accessibility by electric streetcar (which we often take from the River Market).

Anyway, I was very impressed with Arvest Ballpark - nice facility.

[Mith242]

[i posted this in the Little Rock forum as well.]

I was in NWA this weekend visiting family and attending the Razorback game (ugh), and on our way back I took a quick detour around Arvest Ballpark. I was very impressed with the facility....though the setting gets a zero point zero.

The reason that I was impressed is two-fold. First, reciprocal to the complaint I have about Dickey-Stephens, the seating bowl is substantial both visually and physically in the number of rows, so not only does it look impressive, it is better weighted to the sky boxes above (at DS, the whole upper structure is bigger than the stands, which looks awkward). Second, regardless of whether or not you prefer a more traditional design (DS) or a Modern structure (Arvest), Arvest is much better executed. It looks high quality, and is progressive...looks like the 21st Century, you know, which it is. DS on the other hand is poorly executed, cut corners are rampant and it results in a hokey design in my opinion. The setting though at DS is 100 times more vibrant and dynamic...great views of the skyline and accessibility by electric streetcar (which we often take from the River Market).

Anyway, I was very impressed with Arvest Ballpark - nice facility.