Blue Wahoos Stadium in Pensacola

Pensacola Blue Wahoos

Blue Wahoos Stadium 351 West Cedar Street Pensacola, FL 32502	Opened: 2012	Capacity: 5,038	Elevation: 11'

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Blue Wahoos Stadium Facts & Figures

Construction cost: $18 million

Financing: The ballpark was financed as part of the approximately $56 million Community Maritime Park project, for which the City of Pensacola issued $45.6 million in bonds in December 2009. Additionally, a federal New Market Tax Credit allocation that was awarded was sold for $12 million; Blue Wahoos' owners Quint and Rishy Studer donated $2.25 million, while the couple for whom the amphitheatre is named donated $600,000 for its construction.

Architect: Populous

Construction manager: Magi Construction

Groundbreaking date: September 17, 2010

Was built on a former industrial site that had been environmentally contaminated by petroleum storage tanks. To clean up the land from its past use cost a whopping $20 million, or $2 million more than it cost to build the stadium.

Owned by Community Maritime Park Associates (CMPA), on behalf of the City of Pensacola, and operated and maintained by Northwest Florida Professional Baseball, the LLC that owns the Blue Wahoos.

Instead of a traditional lease, the Blue Wahoos signed a non-exclusive use agreement to use the stadium that calls for the team to pay the CMPA an annual use fee of $175,000 and a minimum of $125,000 per year based on what's referred to as a "variable attendance surcharge." The initial length of the agreement is for 10 years and includes two 5-year renewal options.

Officially became known as Blue Wahoos Stadium on September 23, 2015. Naming rights were marketed prior to then but never sold. Had a sponsorship deal materialized, the net revenue was to be split evenly between the team and the CMPA. When the Blue Wahoos finally decided to simply name the stadium after the team, they also agreed to pay $112,500 per year to the CMPA to offset their share of the annual naming rights fee, which was valued at $225,000.

Upon opening, was officially called Pensacola Multi-Use Stadium at Community Maritime Park. Pensacola Bayfront Stadium was the most commonly used name during the venue's first four baseball seasons (2012-2015), as that's what the team referred to it as.

On April 12, 2016, the field on which games are played was dedicated as Admiral Jack Fetterman Field. After Fetterman retired from the Navy as a three-star vice admiral he was a prominent booster of community improvement causes in Pensacola up until his death in 2006 at the age of 73. Fetterman was an especially influential supporter of the Community Maritime Park project that lead to the building of the Blue Wahoos' ballpark, and the playing field was named in his memory as a result.

Is located within the 32-acre Vince J. Whibbs, Sr. Community Maritime Park, which also contains an amphitheater and plenty of green space. The Hunter Amphitheater is a short distance beyond right-center field and the sloped roof over its stage is quite visible from within the ballpark.

Not very far beyond the outfield walls is Pensacola Bay. The water comes closest to the stadium in left field, where it's a mere 400 feet from bay's edge to home plate.

Has the smallest capacity of any Double-A ballpark, as it was originally designed to meet the needs of an independent league team, the Pensacola Pelicans, who played in the American Association. When Pelicans ownership acquired the Reds' Southern League affiliate in December 2010, the plans for the ballpark had to be updated and upgraded to meet the needs of affiliated baseball. As an indy league stadium, capacity was slated to be 4,000 and the price tag estimated at $14 million.

All seats in the grandstand are modern stadium-style and painted blue with cup holders attached. A small berm extending from right to center field can hold 250 people and is where the main scoreboard is located. Two additional seating areas, both reserved for groups, are in the right field corner: a tiered party deck along the right field line holds 150, while 100 can sit in deck chairs at umbrella-covered tables on the right field concourse.

In 2013, another party deck was added. Built atop the last section of seats well down the left field line, it features permanent cover and a mix of stadium seats and tables with deck chairs under its pitched blue roof. Capacity for the second-year addition to the stadium, initially dubbed the Fireball Party Deck, is 100.

Doesn't have any suites. In lieu of them, a 140-seat covered deck, called the Hancock Bank Club, was built atop the concession buildings along the third base concourse.

The left field line distance was originally 325 feet from home plate. Prior to the 2016 season, the left field fence was moved back 17 feet, leading to the present distance of 342 feet to the foul pole down the line. The deeper dimension was needed to ensure that a regulation-sized football field could fit within the confines of the baseball playing surface, and specifically one that met NCAA standards for the University of West Florida, a Division II school that began playing football in 2016 (Blue Wahoos Stadium serves as the program's home field). The cost to alter the outfield's size in left field was $71,725 and the change required approval by the CMPA, with their board giving the OK by an 8-3 vote.

Feats & Firsts

First game: April 5, 2012; the Pensacola Blue Wahoos beat the Montgomery Biscuits, 3-1, with 5,038 as the announced attendance. The game was played in 2 hours and 32 minutes after starting at 7:02 p.m.

On June 16, 2012, in just the 34th game ever played at the stadium, the Blue Wahoos' Daniel Corcino (8 IP) and Wilkin De La Rosa (1 IP) combined to no-hit the Mobile BayBears, 6-0, before a sellout crowd of 5,038.

Was the site of Billy Hamilton's single-season record tying 145th and record breaking 146th stolen base on August 21, 2012, both of which he swiped in the 3rd inning of the first game of a doubleheader against the Montgomery Biscuits. Prior to Hamilton, Vince Coleman had held the all-time pro baseball mark of 145 steals in a season since 1983. Hamilton finished the 2012 season, which he split between Bakersfield and Pensacola, with 155 stolen bases. Of the 51 he stole for the Blue Wahoos, 22 of them were at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium, where the record tying and breaking bases were removed and sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

On September 10, 2016, the first college football game was played at the stadium, with the University of West Florida defeating Missouri S&T by a 45-28 score. The game's attendance was 6,288. UWF is based in Pensacola and its football team, the Argonauts, is a member of the NCAA Division II Gulf South Conference.

Official ballpark firsts (all of which occurred on 4/5/12):

Pitch Batter Hit (double) Home Run Winning Pitcher Losing Pitcher Save

Pedro Villarreal Hak-Ju Lee Cole Figueroa Henry Rodriguez Justin Freeman Frank De Los Santos Donnie Joseph

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