Space Coast Stadium is a baseball stadium in Viera, Florida. It has served as the spring training facility for the Florida Marlins (1994-2002), Montreal Expos (2003-2004), and Washington Nationals (2005-2016) and as the home field of the Brevard County Manatees (1994-2016). After renovation, it is scheduled to reopen as a baseball/softball venue - part of a new multi-sport complex operated by the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) - in the fall of 2017.
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Construction and opening
Space Coast Stadium was completed before the 1994 Major League Baseball season as part of a plan to bring the Florida Marlins to Viera for spring training. Ground was broken for the new stadium in what had been a pasture on April 29, 1993, and construction cost US$6.2 million.
Opening ceremonies took place on March 2, 1994 - the same day as a launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia at the nearby Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral - followed immediately by the Marlins? first spring training game at the ballpark, in which they defeated the Kansas City Royals 9-6 before a crowd of 7,494.
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History
The Florida Marlins held spring training at Space Coast Stadium through the 2002 season. In 2002, as part of an agreement in which Jeffrey Loria sold the Montreal Expos to Major League Baseball and purchased the Marlins, the Marlins swapped training sites with the Expos, who had been training in Jupiter, Florida. The Expos held two seasons of training at Space Coast Stadium in 2003 and 2004. The Expos franchise then moved from Montreal to Washington, D.C., to become the Washington Nationals. The Nationals conducted spring training at Space Coast Stadium from their inaugural season in 2005 through 2016. They played from seven to fifteen games per season in the stadium. Game attendance averaged from 4,690 in 2010 to 3,433 in 2011. The Nationals contracted to make annual $765,000 stadium-construction bond payments through March 2013.
Space Coast Stadium was the home of the Brevard County Manatees, a minor league baseball franchise that played in the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, from 1994 to 2016. The Gulf Coast League Nationals of the Gulf Coast League, the Washington Nationals? rookie league affiliate, also played occasional home games at Space Coast Stadium during the Washington Nationals? tenure there.
The Florida State League All-Star Game was played at Space Coast Stadium three times. In the first game, on June 22, 1996, the 6,904 people who saw the game set a record for attendance at the annual league all-star game that stood through at least 2015. On June 14, 2008, the Florida State League All-Star Game was played at Space Coast Stadium for the first time since 1996, with the West Division prevailing over the East Division by a score of 9-3 with 3,402 fans looking on. The game was played again at Space Coast Stadium on June 12, 2010, with the South Division defeating the North Division 5-4 in 10 innings before a crowd of 4,133.
U.S. President George W. Bush held one of his final campaign rallies for the 2004 U.S. presidential election at the stadium on October 23, 2004.
Between 1997 and March 2011, Brevard County, Florida, spent US$7.8 million on capital improvements to Space Coast Stadium, $2.8 million of it in 2006 and 2007 in an effort to keep the Nationals from relocating elsewhere. About $5 million worth of improvements funded by Brevard County's tourist tax were been made to the stadium between 2005 and 2010. In 2011, the county assessed the 33.4 acres (13.5 ha) stadium site as having a value of US$26.5 million.
Departure of the Nationals and Manatees
The Washington Nationals held spring training at Space Coast Stadium for the last time in 2016. The team's last game at the stadium was a 7-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on March 27, 2016. The Nationals? last scheduled game at the stadium on March 28, 2016, was rained out, resulting in the cancellation of activities planned to commemorate the franchise's history there. In 2017, the Nationals moved their spring training operations to West Palm Beach, Florida, where they share facilities with the Houston Astros at The Ballpark of The Palm Beaches, a facility which opened in February 2017.
The Brevard County Manatees also departed after the 2016 season, relocating to Kissimmee, Florida, to become the Florida Fire Frogs.
USSSA Space Coast Complex
The departure of the Nationals and the Manatees after the 2016 season left Space Coast Stadium without a tenant. The United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) bought it and the surrounding spring training fields, announcing plans to renovate the entire complex. USSSA plans to make the complex into an all-turf venue that will host a variety of sports and sports tournaments. Plans called for renovation work to begin in January 2017 and to be complete in the fall of 2017. The new complex, renamed the USSSA Space Coast Complex, will include a renovated Space Coast Stadium with 8,100 seats, 11 suites, a video board, and a turf field for both baseball and softball; a 225-foot (68.6-meter) "Championship Field" with video board; four 225-foot (68.6-meter) NCAA-softball-regulation turf fields; four 325-foot (99-meter) baseball/softball fields; four 385-foot (117.3-meter) NCAA-regulation turf baseball fields; a 175-foot (53.3-meter) "Championship Field" for players aged 8 and under with a video board; an 18,000-square-foot (1,672-square-meter) indoor facility for training, rehabilitation, and clinics; improved lighting; and two new concessions. The entire complex will include 1.3 million square feet (120,774 square meters) of turf.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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