Charlotte Sports Park
Encyclopedia
Charlotte Sports Park is a baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 stadium in Port Charlotte, Florida
Port Charlotte, Florida
Port Charlotte is a census-designated place in Charlotte County, Florida, United States. The population was 46,451 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Punta Gorda Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

. The stadium is the home field for Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...

 spring training
Spring training
In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...

 operations, as well as its Class-A Florida State League
Florida State League
The Florida State League is a Class A-Advanced minor league baseball league operating in the state of Florida. They are one of three leagues currently operating in Class A-Advanced, the third highest of six classifications of minor leagues...

 Charlotte Stone Crabs
Charlotte Stone Crabs
The Charlotte Stone Crabs are a minor league baseball team based in Port Charlotte, Florida. The team are currently members of the Florida State League and are the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball team....

 and Rookie-class
Gulf Coast League
The Gulf Coast League is a minor league baseball league which operates in Florida. It is a Rookie League, with a season running from mid-June to late August. The season is 60 games long and teams in the league are divided into three divisions, East, North and South...

 Gulf Coast Rays teams.

Originally built in 1987, the main stadium underwent a renovation that was completed in January 2009 at a cost of $27 million. http://stonecrabsbaseball.com/multimedia/
Prior to the Rays, the stadium was once home of the Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...

' minor league affiliate Charlotte Rangers, and has played host to college baseball tournaments and the South Coast League
South Coast League
The South Coast League of Professional Baseball , based in Conyers, Georgia, was a professional, independent baseball organization located in the Southeastern United States. It operated in cities not served by Major or Minor League Baseball teams and was not affiliated with either. It folded...

 Charlotte County Redfish
Charlotte County Redfish
The Charlotte County Redfish was a team of the South Coast League, based in Port Charlotte, Florida. The team was not affiliated with Major or Minor League Baseball...

.

On February 3, 2010, the Rays announced a naming rights deal with The Mosaic Company
The Mosaic Company
The Mosaic Company is a Fortune 500 company based in Plymouth, Minnesota. Mosaic offers two key crop nutrients—phosphate and potash—plus specialty products K-Mag®, MicroEssentials® and Pegasus™...

. The agreement was reported to last through 2024. However, due to a potential conflict-of-interest with Charlotte County
Charlotte County, Florida
Charlotte County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 141,627. In 2005, the population of the MSA was 154,030.The U.S. Census Bureau 2007 estimate for the county was 152,814...

 — whom ultimately must approve the name change — on February 10, the Rays asked for more time to study the proposal before giving it to the county commissioners for final approval. On February 17, due to intense opposition by both the Charlotte County Council and local residents, the Rays announced they are abandoning the deal with Mosaic and will potentially look at other companies in the future instead.

Historical Events

After signing an unprecedented 10 year deal worth $252 million with the Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...

, in 2000, slugger Alex Rodriguez held a press conference with the sports media at the stadium. The stadium, which was being vacated by the club at the end of the 2002 Spring Training, was unable to accommodate the significant number of news reporters. In an effort to allow enough room for reporters to speak to Rodriguez, the press conference was held on the roof of the Rangers' dugout—a clear sign that the Rangers had outgrown the facility.

During the 1994 Spring Training, the Rangers played host to the Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...

 who featured basketball star Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...

. The game drew a record crowd and was one of only a few sites in Florida to host Jordan.

In the Spring of 1993 , Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...

 pitcher Nolan Ryan
Nolan Ryan
Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. , nicknamed "The Ryan Express", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is currently principal owner, president and CEO of the Texas Rangers....

 announced his retirement from the clubhouse at the stadium.

The Rays opened Spring Training at the renovated stadium on February 14, 2009. They lost their first Spring Training game to the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....

 on February 25, 7-0. Their first Spring Training home win came on February 27, a 12-4 win over the Boston Red Sox.

Other uses

The stadium has also been used by the local community for events like concerts, festivals, and expos. It has hosted such musicians as Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...

, The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...

, and Simple Plan
Simple Plan
Simple Plan is a Canadian pop punk band from Montréal, Québec. The band has had no line up changes since its inception in 1999. Members are Pierre Bouvier , Jeff Stinco , Sébastien Lefebvre , David Desrosiers and Chuck Comeau...

. The latest new event will be the hosting of a family festival with many activities including concert entertainment by The Little River Band and Maiden Cane. The concert portion of the festival is produced by Jay Goldberg Events & Entertainment.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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