{"id":794627,"date":"2019-04-08T20:16:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T02:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/new-minor-league-las-vegas-ballpark-opens\/"},"modified":"2019-04-08T20:16:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T02:16:00","slug":"new-minor-league-las-vegas-ballpark-opens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/new-minor-league-las-vegas-ballpark-opens\/","title":{"rendered":"New minor league Las Vegas ballpark opens"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.7624020887728\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-364205-624\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/New_Vegas_Ballpark_52040-62fea-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/New_Vegas_Ballpark_52040-62fea.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"John Locher \/ AP | AP | Don Logan, president of the Las Vegas Aviators, stands in front of a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. Logan spent years trying to get a new minor league ballpark in this gambling city.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"8\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/New_Vegas_Ballpark_52040-62fea.jpg\" alt=\"Don Logan, president of the Las Vegas Aviators, stands in front of a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. Logan spent years trying to get a new minor league ballpark in this gambling city.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Don Logan, president of the Las Vegas Aviators, stands in front of a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. Logan spent years trying to get a new minor league ballpark in this gambling city.<\/strong><br \/>John Locher \/ AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/New_Vegas_Ballpark_52040-62fea-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/New_Vegas_Ballpark_52040-62fea-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"John Locher \/ AP | AP | Workers continue construction on a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. The park will be the home of the minor league Las Vegas Aviators.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/New_Vegas_Ballpark_52040-62fea-1.jpg\" alt=\"Workers continue construction on a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. The park will be the home of the minor league Las Vegas Aviators.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Workers continue construction on a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. The park will be the home of the minor league Las Vegas Aviators.<\/strong><br \/>John Locher \/ AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/New_Vegas_Ballpark_52040-62fea-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/New_Vegas_Ballpark_52040-62fea-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"John Locher \/ AP | AP | Workers continue construction on a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. The park will be the home of the minor league Las Vegas Aviators.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/New_Vegas_Ballpark_52040-62fea-2.jpg\" alt=\"Workers continue construction on a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. The park will be the home of the minor league Las Vegas Aviators.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Workers continue construction on a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. The park will be the home of the minor league Las Vegas Aviators.<\/strong><br \/>John Locher \/ AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/New_Vegas_Ballpark_52040-62fea-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/New_Vegas_Ballpark_52040-62fea-3.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"John Locher \/ AP | AP | People walk through the stands during construction on a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. The park will be the home of the minor league Las Vegas Aviators.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/New_Vegas_Ballpark_52040-62fea-3.jpg\" alt=\"People walk through the stands during construction on a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. The park will be the home of the minor league Las Vegas Aviators.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>People walk through the stands during construction on a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. The park will be the home of the minor league Las Vegas Aviators.<\/strong><br \/>John Locher \/ AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/sports\/new-minor-league-las-vegas-ballpark-opens\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/sports\/new-minor-league-las-vegas-ballpark-opens\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">LAS VEGAS \u2014 Don Logan spent years trying to get a new minor league ballpark in this gambling city, so the president of the Las Vegas Aviators understands what the Oakland Athletics are going through in their quest for new digs in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">After all, he\u2019s had sewage in his dugout, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The A\u2019s are still contending with antiquated plumbing at the Oakland Coliseum, the team\u2019s home for the past 51 years. Their efforts to get a new stadium have floundered over the years, though recently there has been some momentum toward a new home field.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The club\u2019s top minor league team? Well, that\u2019s another story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Triple-A Aviators open at home Tuesday night in what might be the best ballpark in all of minor league baseball, a $150 million palace complete with swimming pool in right center, celebrity chefs overseeing the grills, and player comforts that rival the bigs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">If players have to spend time in Las Vegas on their way to the top, at least they\u2019ll be doing it in style.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think I can promise you the locker room facilities just by themselves are far superior here than in Oakland,\u201d Logan said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Funded in part by an $80 million naming rights deal with Las Vegas tourism officials, the appropriately named Las Vegas Ballpark is a big investment for minor league baseball. The 10,000-seat ballpark replaces Cashman Field, which opened in 1983 and \u2014 in a bit of serendipity \u2014 was briefly the home of the A\u2019s themselves when they had to play their first six games of the 1996 season in Las Vegas because the Coliseum was being remodeled for the Raiders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Logan was there for that series, as he has been for almost every game at Cashman since arriving in 1984, the year after what was then the Padres Triple-A team began play in Las Vegas. He was instrumental in trying to land four spring training teams for the city in the 1990s, and is in the conversation whenever talk turns to a possible major league franchise in Sin City.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But while he has seen just about everything in minor league baseball, Logan says he has never seen a ballpark like the one his team opens in this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis is going to be as nice as any ballpark in the country,\u201d Logan said. \u201cThere isn\u2019t anything we haven\u2019t thought of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That includes the pool, a concept first introduced by the Arizona Diamondbacks, which will be especially popular on summer nights when the temperature doesn\u2019t drop below 100 degrees until the games are over. Set amid a forest of towering palm trees, it rents for around $2,000 a game, and Logan predicted it will be filled almost every night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">So will the seats \u2014 which are made of mesh to help with the desert heat \u2014 and the party decks, which are modeled after those at the minor league park in Charlotte, North Carolina. Fans enjoying the game on the left field party deck will get the bonus of a view of the glittering hotels of the Las Vegas Strip in the valley below.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Logan, the 2018 Pacific Coast League executive of the year, said the team and its architects also borrowed from design elements from ballparks in El Paso, Texas, and in Columbus, Ohio, which has been the top-ranked minor league ballpark in many surveys.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIts reign as the top ballpark in the minors is about to end this season,\u201d Logan said. \u201cIt is cool, but it\u2019s not this cool.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The old ballpark was located in a declining neighborhood near downtown, while the new one is in the suburban master planned community of Summerlin, with the new practice facility for the NHL\u2019s Vegas Golden Knights reachable with a big shot over the left field scoreboard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">It\u2019s prime real estate and players will also like that they can walk to the clubhouse from the Red Rock hotel-casino across the street, where visiting teams will stay. Fans can also bet on the game at the casino\u2019s sports book, which is offering lines on all Aviators games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Ticket buyers will find it just as inviting. Besides the swimming pool, there are 22 suites, a wall full of craft beer taps, and a club level complete with a show kitchen for cooking displays. Giada de Laurentiis is one of the celebrity chefs, with others to come. The team also has its own beer, a seasonal ale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe\u2019ve spent an inordinate amount of time on food and different types of beers,\u201d Logan said. \u201cThe food options and food experience here will be better than most anywhere in baseball, if not better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Looming over it all will be a $4 million video board that is the largest in the minor leagues. This is Las Vegas, after all, so there has to be some glitz especially considering the city also has a new arena for the Golden Knights and is building a $1.9 billion stadium for the Raiders that will open next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That\u2019s a lot of competition for the sports dollar, but the Aviators figure to find their niche on the minor league level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Big league good, even without a big league team.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/sports\/new-minor-league-las-vegas-ballpark-opens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don Logan, president of the Las Vegas Aviators, stands in front of a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March 28. Logan spent years trying to get a new minor league ballpark in this gambling city.John Locher \/ AP | AP Workers continue construction on a new baseball park in Las Vegas on March [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-794627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 10:59:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}