Nelson optimistic about pace of construction for Town Madison’s minor league ballpark
MADISON — Ralph Nelson has confidence Madison’s $47 million minor league ballpark will get finished early next year, and the pace of construction backs up his optimism.
Supports have gone up for the stands around home plate at the ballpark south of Interstate 565, and brickwork already covers the outside of the stadium along the third base line.
Nelson, CEO and managing partner of the Rocket City Trash Pandas’ ownership group BallCorps, said the team will play the first home game of its inaugural season April 15, 2020, and the stadium timeline is set to avoid the last-minute rush other new minor league stadiums around the country have experienced.
“I’ve heard all of these stories about seats being bolted on an hour before the gates open,” Nelson said. “Sometimes, the stadium is still being finished. We don’t have that problem. We’re excited about that.”
The Trash Pandas will return pro baseball to north Alabama six years after the Huntsville Stars held their last full season at Joe Davis Stadium in Huntsville in 2014. The new Madison stadium will sit between I-565 exits 9 and 13 and will have its own on and off ramp. It will be about a 20-minute drive from downtown Decatur and a nearly 30-minute drive from Athens.
“I think there’s a buzz around the team even in Decatur,” said attorney Scott Faulkner, a Decatur resident. “The name generated a buzz in our area and beyond that. I think people in Decatur will support the team.”
Faulkner’s father was a part owner of the Huntsville Stars at one time. Since the Stars franchise left Huntsville for Biloxi, Mississippi, Faulkner and many north Alabamians have wanted pro baseball to return.
“It’s not that far, and there’s going to be that exit ramp right there,” Faulkner said. “I think people from here will travel to see the team.”
The I-565 location is a part of an ever-evolving Madison area that serves as a central location for the communities of north Alabama. The team was named the Rocket City Trash Pandas rather than being tied to Madison so that it encompassed all of north Alabama.
“We love the location from a geographical standpoint,” Nelson said. “It’s so centrally located. It’s 5-10 minutes from anywhere in Huntsville. It’s not far at all from Decatur and Athens. It’ll be unbelievably convenient.”
Plans call for the stadium to hold 7,500 people but feature only 4,000 fixed seats. The focus for the stadium, which will be owned by the city of Madison, was to combine actual seats and standing-room-only areas to create more of a social environment than most stadiums.
The right field area will have a section of grass where patrons can sit as well as an area named the Rock Porch for bars. Tickets for those general admission sections will be priced at $8.
The stadium also has a larger club area than most minor league stadiums. The city of Madison requested that feature to make the stadium more versatile when it comes to hosting events outside of baseball.
“We took the the best of the best in minor league baseball, and we think we improved on it a little bit,” Nelson said.
The Trash Pandas have sold out of premium season tickets for the inaugural 2020 season as well as the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Standard season tickets are still available. Those include reserved seats and box seats.
The Trash Pandas are a part of the Los Angeles Angels’ farm system, competing in the Double-A Southern League. That league features the Birmingham Barons, the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Montgomery Biscuits. After this season, the Mobile BayBears franchise will become the Trash Pandas.
The next step for the Trash Pandas is to reveal their jerseys Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Huntsville’s Big Spring Park.
From The Decatur Daily
