I almost hailed a Waymo in Atlanta during SBJ’s Business of Soccer event in late March. Almost. I downloaded the app but couldn’t pull the trigger. It was a nice night, weather-wise, so I decided to walk back to the hotel.
Thinking about it now, I can’t imagine the conditions in which I would pick a driverless taxi. But I’ll get a chance to rethink my position soon. Waymos are coming to Charlotte.
(Note: The SBJ Facilities newsletter will switch to running every other Thursday, with the next edition publishing April 16. I trust this will be a better time for devoted readers to devour this newsletter than mid-Monday morning when you’re trying to get your work life together.)
As team acquisition frenzy ebbs, Diamond Baseball Holdings’ focus shifts to stadiums and real estate
Diamond Baseball Holdings’ roll-up of 48 Minor League Baseball teams was driven by the business synergies and purchasing power created by unifying ownership of MLB-affiliated teams.
Stadium scenarios were the company’s No. 2 consideration behind designated market area and market size. Its buying spree came as MLB unveiled the Professional Development League facility standards, which upended MiLB. Unworkable stadium situations caused Diamond Baseball Holdings to pass on a few possible acquisitions, and resulted in teams in Kinston (N.C.), Modesto, and Rancho Cucamonga relocating.
The latter deal involved the acquisition of the Dodgers’ Single-A affiliated Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, who were moved to Ontario and a new stadium built by the city, and renamed the Tower Buzzers. They opened the $151 million city-owned, 6,000-seat ONT Field (designed by Populous and built by Tilden-Coil Constructors) on April 2.
“Yes, there were more cooks in the kitchen than typical,” Diamond Baseball Holdings CEO Peter Freund said of the deal. “It’s not your classic, ‘here you go, here is the venue for 365 days, it’s all yours.’ It’s truly a partnership there.”
Beyond project approval, the Ontario airport provided design inspiration for the new stadium, which Legends Global operates. There are “Arrivals” and “Departures” signs, with an airplane in the outfield (and often overhead).
“It’s really on-brand, and on-theme, but they’ve been great business partners,” said Freund. “We think this is as good a minor league baseball stadium as there is in the country. If I was going to build a minor league baseball stadium right now, that is the one I would say go see.”
As the dust settles on the buying spree, Diamond Baseball Holdings has increasingly turned its attention to the 48 stadiums it’s inherited — it owns only two (Charlotte and Grand Chute, Wisc.) — as well as opportunities to develop the land surrounding several of the ballparks. That includes a nascent mixed-use project around Louisville Slugger Stadium in which DBH is directly involved, or the publicly owned 190-acre Ontario Sports Empire youth sports complex surrounding ONT Field, where DBH’s involvement so far is limited to discussions.
“I would be lying if I said this was our core philosophy when we were putting 48 teams together,” said Freund. “But I feel like these opportunities have come to us, as opposed to us chasing them, from these municipalities that want to see continued growth around these sports venues and want to see these places activated more than just the 70 home games a year.”
From acquisitions to developments
Perhaps emblematic of the shift in focus, Henry Shepherd, who oversaw the company’s M&A strategy during the buying spree, is now its chief strategy officer overseeing a new subsidiary, Diamond Real Estate. Diamond Baseball Holdings is ultimately a platform business and real estate development, though intensely local in nature, seemingly could fit that structure.
MLB’s Professional Development League compliance requirements spurred a major portion of the nine figures Diamond Baseball Holdings has poured into its teams’ stadiums, including more than $10 million each into ballparks in Portland (Maine), Scranton, and Vancouver. Offseason changes featured complete field reconstructions, new bars and premium clubs and a canopy over a group seating space at Polar Park. As of MiLB’s 2026 Opening Day on Friday, all Diamond Baseball Holdings-owned teams’ stadiums are PDL compliant.
The land surrounding many of the venues is where big growth potential sits.
Ontario Sports Empire, managed by Sports Facilities Companies, is the largest youth sports complex west of the Rocky Mountains, with more than 40 fields of different sizes and shapes surrounding ONT Field. Its mixed-use thesis is more “if you build it, they will come” than urban mixed-use renewal, a concept that’s succeeded at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, Calif.
The more traditional urban mixed-use development project around Louisville Slugger Stadium is moving slowly, but it is progressing, Freund confirmed. It’s a reminder that each project’s timeline depends upon a slew of factors unique to each market.
“There needs to be government incentives, tax incentives, a situation where we have a partner like we do in the city of Louisville, where the city says if you’re going to take this parking away to build an adjacent mixed-use development, we’re going to help build a parking garage,” said Freund. “We need partnerships like that to make the financials work.”
This story has been updated from its initial version.
As the 2026 season kicks off, check out 15 funky features of minor league ballparks
Happy 2026 Minor League Baseball season! Hopefully, you get to see one of these quirky MiLB ballpark features this summer.
Shrimp boats
Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Triple-A (Marlins)
VyStar Ballpark
I’m way on the record by now exclaiming my love for the shrimp boat suites, designed by Osports. They capture local culture in the silly way that is uniquely MiLB.
Lazy river
Frisco RoughRiders, Double-A (Rangers)
Annually, 20,000 swimmers dip into the nation’s largest water feature in a sporting venue.
Guitar-shaped scoreboard
Nashville Sounds, Triple-A (Brewers)
First Horizon Park
Installed prior to the 1993 season at the Sounds’ previous ballpark, then re-created when the team moved to First Horizon Park in 2015, the 142-foot-by-55-foot guitar-shaped scoreboard sits beyond the right center-field wall.
Burger-toppings bar
Hub City Spartanburgers, High-A (Rangers)
Fifth Third Park
OVG Hospitality and the Spartanburgers’ burger toppings bar features 101 toppings, which, doing the math, creates a nonillion (!?!?!) possible topping combinations.
Oil derrick
Tulsa Drillers, Double-A (Dodgers)
ONEOK Field
While I don’t endorse fossil fuels, a flame-shooting oil derrick fits the cultural bill in Oklahoma.
Ferris wheel
Quad Cities River Bandits, High-A (Royals)
Modern Woodmen Park
The Ferris wheel sits beyond left field with a handful of other amusement park rides. “I saw that from up here!” I imagine myself yelling at the ump from the top of the ride.
Synagogue team store
South Bend Cubs, High-A (Cubs)
Four Winds Field
The South Bend Cubs’ team store is housed in a former synagogue, originally built in 1901.
Life-size bobblehead hall of fame
Harrisburg Senators, Double-A (Nationals)
FNB Field
The Senators’ life-sized bobblehead Hall of Fame features prominent players that came through FNB Field, such as Bryce Harper.
Simpsons statues
Albuquerque Isotopes, Triple-A (Rockies)
RGCU Park at Isotopes Field
RGCU Park features statues of Simpsons characters — Bart, Lisa, Marge and Homer — owing to Episode No. 263 when Homer Simpson learns that the Springfield Isotopes are moving to Albuquerque and subsequently goes on hunger strike.
Cross-border viewing
El Paso Chihuahuas, Triple-A (Padres)
Southwest University Park
The only minor league stadium from where you can see into another country (Mexico).
Hit Bull, Win Steak sign
Durham Bulls; Triple-A (Rays)
Durham Bulls Athletic Park
The “Hit Bull Win Steak” sign originated from the “Bull Durham” movie. When a Bulls player hits the sign with a home run, they and a lucky fan win a $100 gift certificate to The Angus Barn steakhouse. It’s been hit roughly 40 times since 1995.
Train depot incorporation
Louisville Bats, Triple-A (Reds)
Louisville Slugger Stadium
The Bats’ stadium was built on the site of a 19th century railroad freight yard along the Ohio River, and the depot archways are now the main entrances on both the east and west sides of the ballpark. Hall of Fame pavilion, a large indoor open area for year-round event-hosting, sits inside the depot part of the stadium.
Green monster(s)
Greenville Drive and Portland Sea Dogs; High-A and Double-A (Red Sox)
Fluor Field and Hadlock Park
The Red Sox’s Single-A and Double-A affiliates have Green Monsters in their ballparks (Portland’s is 37 feet tall, while Greenville’s is 30). Come on, Polar Park? Where’s your Green Monstah?
Hype Hens
Winston-Salem Dash, High-A (White Sox)
Truist Stadium
OK, aside from the obvious cross-contamination possibilities, why are there not more animal enclosures in MiLB? The Hype Hens were selected as MiLB’s best animal enclosure in 2025. It’s a serious award, people!
Berm
Chattanooga Lookouts, Double-A (Reds)
Erlanger Park
There are many great berms to choose from across MiLB, so I’ll go with a new one in Chattanooga at Erlanger Park, which sold its left field berm’s naming rights to Little Debbie (wow, yes!). Tickets cost $9 (fees included).
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U.S. Men’s National Team failed pre-World Cup warm-ups; Atlanta’s indoor grass did not
The U.S. men’s national soccer team produced a pair of worrying performances during recent World Cup warmups against Belgium and Portugal in late March. But the hybrid grass surface they played on at Mercedes-Benz Stadium held up well, an encouraging sign for VP/Stadium Operations Adam Fullerton.
Spare a thought for this guy and his grounds crew over the next few months, because there is nowhere for the playing surface to hide once the World Cup starts in June.
The playing surface itself is an indoor grass-growing experiment backed by FIFA and Academics from Michigan State and Tennessee, with support from subterranean vacuum systems and seemingly miles of piping and tubes installed two years ago.
The fairly novel hybrid surface augments a natural grass field by running a machine over it and stitching synthetic turf into the real grass. The fake stuff offers the real grass a strong backbone to cling to, while preserving the real grass feeling of the pitch (especially when sliding, for example).
Mercedes-Benz Stadium put down this FIFA-mandated surface in advance of Atlanta United playing the first half of its MLS season in the stadium.
Turf turnover
Vendor Precision Turf (with help from others) will pull that field up in early May and put down a new one in advance of the stadium being turned over to FIFA for roughly two months. The stadium hosts eight World Cup matches, at an average of one every three days during June and early July.
All of the World Cup-hosting stadiums must install the same FIFA-ordained hybrid pitch (none of them were using it previously). But the complications of keeping the pitch alive, fresh and resilient in an indoor venue are obvious.
“It’s hard to do what we’re doing right now,” said Fullerton. “It takes a ton of maintenance, a ton of attention.”
He frets over when to install the surface. Set it too early, and disease or decay may take hold. Put the grass down too late, and it may fail to take root or settle.
AT&T Stadium in Dallas is also undertaking the indoor natural grass experiment, but without an MLS tenant. The stadium, which will host nine World Cup matches, will only put down one pitch — raised 26 inches above its NFL turf playing field — in May.
Dallas is dangling its grow lights from the stadium’s roof, lowering and raising them as needed, which keeps weight off the grass.
The pitch at Seattle’s Lumen Field under construction now, and the MLS’ Sounders and NWSL’ Reign will play on it before the venue is turned over to FIFA in May.
SoFi Stadium’s pitch construction begins April 13, two days after the venue hosts MonsterJam.
The Atlanta United and national team matches are giving Fullerton and his eight-person grounds crew some idea of how the field will play during the tournament.
The current surface, from a turf farm in north Georgia, receives 12-hour shifts under 15 grow-light rigs. They’re rotated around the pitch to keep from cooking the grass or leaving the weight of the rigs (which they’ve got on a two-year lease) in one place too long.
The tournament playing surface for the tournament will make a 28-hour trip from a turf farm in Colorado, which provided Atlanta’s grass during the 2025 Club World Cup.
“The field is playing well,” Fullerton said. “Aesthetically it could look a little better than it does right now, but there are always going to be comments.”
The areas where the linesmen run is wearing down, as is a stretch in front of the benches, but it’s likely synthetic turf will be laid in those areas during the World Cup.
“I’m confident it’s a safe, really good grass pitch and it’s going to be that way. We’re going to have all the right people looking at it. The anxiety comes with the scrutiny, and you just want to put on a good show,” Fullerton said.
It’s front and center, “for a very long time,” he added, chuckling.
Would you eat this?
Phoenix’s Mortgage Matchup Center hosted the NCAA Women’s Final Four, and OVG Hospitality’s menu for the games included Heinz Loaded Sonoran Fries. This $10 item features nacho cheese, chipotle lime ranch and green onions piled on crispy fries. Carne asada is $5 extra. Would I eat this? Tell Otis Huemmer, OVG’s executive chef at the arena, the answer is yes.
Big idea
Did you catch McKay Coppins’ story about the Cartel Olympics in The Atlantic recently? It was a loco story. I liked very much that Coppins, as a journalist, was viewed by Hollywood as a source of truth.
Facilities speed reads
- In my Insiders column this week, I write how the jobs of those overseeing facilities for sports teams are changing.
- Gensler shared a menu of Lenovo Center renovation options with the Centennial Authority board during its Thursday meeting as the second phase of a roughly $300 million project prepares to commence summer 2026. The Hurricanes and the N.C. State men’s basketball team are among the facility’s tenants.
- Redfin, the real estate website, listed Rocket Arena — which, to be very clear, is not for sale and was part of an April Fools’ joke — as part of an expanded arena naming rights deal between the Cavaliers and Rocket Companies.
- Among the Power Players putting on the FIFA World Cup is Ron VanDeVeen, the president and CEO of Metlife Stadium, one of the venues hosting eight matches during the tournament.
- West Virginia’s projects for Milan Puskar Stadium’s West Tower and Hope Coliseum are emblematic of how colleges gearing renovations and development with an eye on generating revenue for NIL and other athletics expenses.
- At the recent SBJ Business of Soccer event, my colleagues and I checked out progress on the Centennial Yards development. A wise planning effort will have key components of the mixed-use district ready for the FIFA World Cup in June.