All WVU Sports posts (Charleston, Morgantown: city limits, long term, highway)
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it is a pretty lil stadium, but it just won cause its so brand spankin new...there are plenty more bigger and more beautiful minor league stadiums around the country.....Im pretty sure this Black Bears team will do well financially in Morgantown, and eventually be upgraded from "short Season" A...which obviously would bring in even more money to the area....
That's your opinion. Mine is it won by 87% of the votes because it is the best minor league venue, period. And, in it's beautiful setting it will be even better when direct Interstate access is available in the future. The number of seats is not the issue. The stadium is getting nice crowds, some of them overflow crowds. It also gets great crowds for the WVU games held there, which is why it is likely to remain a short season venue. It splits the season with the Mountaineers, and that is working out nicely. If demand dictates, they can easily add seats the way the stadium is configured.
Morgantown is a sports oriented city, but there is competition for sports dollars here, not only from other sports, but from another minor league team just 45 minutes away and from the Pittsburgh Pirates themselves, an easy drive away. I think it will work out nicely the way things are configured. Going to a game there is an "event" in addition to being a baseball game. There is a party deck that offers 20 different craft beers on tap, nice concessions, and a wonderful view in a safe atmosphere that is readily accessible to tens of thousands. I'm seeing cars from PA and MD at the games too, so it is getting plenty of traction in the area. Some Pirate fans attend to get a glimpse of future Pirates players.
A couple of things: the McBallpark, as I call it (Mon County Ballpark, plus it's near a strip mall and I couldn't resist the McDonald's juxtaposition), won not only because it is a stunning facility, but it had good advertising of the vote on social media from the team itself as well as WVU, so it was fairly widely disseminated and definitely helped their chances. I still voted for it, of course. Also, it won for the category of Best Ballpark for Short-Season A teams, of which there are 22 teams in two leagues. So it isn't as if it was going against higher-league teams like Columbus, Durham, or Birmingham.
A couple of things: the McBallpark, as I call it (Mon County Ballpark, plus it's near a strip mall and I couldn't resist the McDonald's juxtaposition), won not only because it is a stunning facility, but it had good advertising of the vote on social media from the team itself as well as WVU, so it was fairly widely disseminated and definitely helped their chances. I still voted for it, of course. Also, it won for the category of Best Ballpark for Short-Season A teams, of which there are 22 teams in two leagues. So it isn't as if it was going against higher-league teams like Columbus, Durham, or Birmingham.
Yeah, of course these things are always popularity contests of a sort. But it is interesting that they won the contest. It shows the strong fan and player approval of the facility.
Black Bears tickets are sold out for tonight and tomorrow night except for the $8 standing room only tickets. All the premium $12 and $10 tickets are gone. Attendance has been great and is growing. Many from Pittsburgh make the relatively short drive to watch games to gauge future Pirates players.
I believe they will decide to expand the stadium if this keeps happening. What is remarkable to me is this is taking place with another minor league pro team located just 45 miles away, and a big league team just over an hour's drive away. The Black Bears are surpassing everyone's expectations.
Black Bears tickets are sold out for tonight and tomorrow night except for the $8 standing room only tickets. All the premium $12 and $10 tickets are gone. Attendance has been great and is growing. Many from Pittsburgh make the relatively short drive to watch games to gauge future Pirates players.
I believe they will decide to expand the stadium if this keeps happening. What is remarkable to me is this is taking place with another minor league pro team located just 45 miles away, and a big league team just over an hour's drive away. The Black Bears are surpassing everyone's expectations.
Might be just 45 miles away, but it makes a HUGE difference that that team is in PA....if it was 45 miles the other direction towards Clarksburg/Bridgeport it wouldnt work.....same goes for the pro team(s)...hypothetically, if WV got its own MLB team 75 miles south of Morgantown, just like that the Pirates lose a helluva lot of fans...shoot, even if that team were in Charleston, alot of fans would switch their allegiance simply because itd be a WV team as opposed to a PA team.....even though Charleston is what? 3 hours away and Pittsburgh is an hour and 15 minutes.....some people might say "oh Id just be a fan of both" but in reality that doesnt work, and suppose they were put in the same division etc......
45 miles the other way would put it way past Bridgeport/Clarksburg. That would almost be Weston. There isn't much past that for 100 miles until you get to Charleston and thus nothing to draw from for a fan base. NCWV, Western MD, Green County, PA and the southern tier of Fayette County will come to Morgantown for minor league baseball. Washington draws from the Wheeling/Ohio Valley area as well as Washington County and northern Fayette County... basically a different market. The thing that surprises me is the number of Pirate fans who trek here to watch the games from Allegheny County. I don't think anybody anticipated that. Those guys are real diehards. I'd imagine they would go to games in Charleston too if it weren't so far away, but the 3 1/2+ hour jaunt is just too much from Pittsburgh for that to happen.
USA TODAY has selected "The Monongalia County Ballpark" as the number one Professional Baseball Park in the Country this year. There will be a press release and an article in the USA TODAY paper,...
The concept of how we developed the stadium, the partnership with the community, WVU, and the Governmental agencies. Is a blueprint for future ballparks. It would not surprise me to see it used again in our state.
And yes, Colt, I realize the number one designation is largely symbolic. Our ballpark will never be Fenway or Wriggley, but it is an ourstanding facility and the way we accomplished getting it operational here is attracting national attention. It does our little city and county proud.
To clarify for you, USA today Weekly ran the article, but it was baseballparks.com that gave the award...But again, it wins because its brand spankin new, (this is not debatable, because the award is solely for NEW or renovated parks) other than the nice backdrop, there is nothing unique about the stadium, its a cookie cutter minor league ball field.....and other minor league stadiums round the country have just as great, if not greater backdrops....It's still a great thing for Morgantown though, and the fact it was considerably cheap to build is somethin for yall to be proud of, but a "blueprint for future stadiums" is your hubris showin again... but again though I love that it was built...I plan on goin to some WVU games this next season, especially when my Horns come to town! Hook Em!
one thing I dont understand though is who's bright idea was it to make the field an artifical turf? it sure as shootin rains enough here to have natural grass, that fake stuff is ugly imo, but if thats what floats yalls boats, carry on I reckon.....
also the Park is technically in Granville, not Morgantown... I consider it all the same, but you dont in other threads, so you cant have it both ways....
Last edited by Colt .45; 08-12-2015 at 07:25 PM..
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USA Today Honors The Monongalia County Ballpark
