Smith's Ballpark (formerly known as Franklin Quest Field, later Franklin Covey Field, and more recently Spring Mobile Ballpark) is a minor league baseball park in the western United States, located in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the home field of the Salt Lake Bees of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League and the collegiate Utah Utes of the Pac-12 Conference.
Smith's Ballpark opened 23Â years ago in 1994 with a seating capacity of 15,400, the largest in the PCL. It is located on the site of its predecessor, Derks Field, with a similar unorthodox southeast alignment, toward the Wasatch Range. The elevation at street level is 4,230 feet (1,290Â m) above sea level.
History
In its inaugural season in 1994, the Buzz set a PCL attendance record with 713,224 fans. The team led the PCL in attendance in each of its first six seasons in Salt Lake. The largest crowd at the ballpark is 16,531 in 2000; the Saturday night opponent was the Albuquerque Dukes on July 22.
Besides hosting the Salt Lake Bees, Smith's Ballpark has played host to two exhibition games featuring the Minnesota Twins, a spring training game featuring the Seattle Mariners and the Colorado Rockies, concerts, soccer matches, and high school and college baseball games, including a Mountain West Conference tournament.
The ballpark has hosted the Triple-A All-Star Game twice. In 1996, a team of National League-affiliated All-Stars defeated their American League opponents, 2â€"1. Salt Lake's Todd Walker was selected as the PCL MVP. The game returned to the park in 2011 with the International League All-Stars beating the PCL team, 3â€"0.
After Franklin Covey's 15-year naming rights agreements expired in 2009, an agreement with Spring Mobile, an AT&T Mobility authorized retailer, made the ballpark's name Spring Mobile Ballpark for five seasons.
In March 2014, it was announced that Salt Lake City-based Smith's Food and Drug had signed a six-year naming rights deal, giving the park its current name.
Features
Smith's Ballpark has one of the biggest upper decks in the minor leagues, which are uncommon outside of the majors. The ballpark also contains 24 luxury suites on the third level along with two private party patios.
Smith's Ballpark is noted for its stunning views of the Wasatch Mountains over the left and center field walls.
Naming rights
When the ballpark opened in 1994, it was called Franklin Quest Field, which the Franklin Quest Company paid $1.4 million for 15 years for the naming rights in the summer of 1993. It changed its name to Franklin Covey Field in 1997 after Franklin Quest merged with the Covey Leadership Center, becoming Franklin Covey.
In 2009, the Bees announced on April 7 that they had reached a multi-year naming-rights deal with Spring Mobile (a Salt Lake City-based AT&T authorized retailer) to provide the ballpark's new name of Spring Mobile Ballpark which ran for five seasons. In 2014, Smith's Food and Drug signed a six-year agreement to rename it Smith's Ballpark.
See also
- List of NCAA Division I baseball venues
References
External links
- Smith's Ballpark
