With the 2018 season in the books, the Augusta GreenJackets (Low A; Sally League) can claim a successful inaugural year for SRP Park.
SRP Park opened in April, serving as the new home of the GreenJackets and the anchor of the larger Riverside Village development in North Augusta, SC. The ballpark has been met with plenty of acclaim since its opening, not only for its exceptional fan experience but also for its role in the broader mixed-use development initiative. It was awarded our 2018 Ballpark of the Year, and played a big part in a strong season for the GreenJackets.
Now that the final regular-season game has been played, the GreenJackets can claim 2018 as a success. The club posted a per-game average attendance of 4,050, and a total attendance of 255,155 over 63 openings. That was the result of substantial support for the team as it moved into the new ballpark, and could give GreenJackets vice president Tom Denlinger and the rest of the club’s front office staff momentum for 2019 and beyond. More from the Augusta Chronicle:
The excitement for a new ballpark also showed in season ticket numbers. The team sold five times the number of ticket packages compared with last year at Lake Olmstead Stadium, Denlinger said, and that number will hold based on multiyear deals.
“That shows the appetite for baseball in the CSRA, which is exciting,” he said. “As we get to the offseason, a lot of those partnerships are on multiyear deals. That’s the community investing in us and we’re investing back in them. We’re excited to continue to grow.”
Another highlight has been the two awards the ballpark has earned, first from BaseballParks.com and most recently from BallparkDigest.com. Both outlets named SRP Park the ballpark of the year nationwide.
“It’s been awesome seeing the community rally around the new park,” Denlinger said. “Winning the two awards, that, for our industry, is a high mark to be able to win that.”
By the start of the 2019 season, some key components of the Riverside Village development will be up and running, including a new apartment building beyond the left field wall, a Southbound Smokehouse and SweetWater Brewery in a building in right field, and a new Crown Plaza hotel. For more on SRP Park, check out our own Kevin Reichard’s report from its opening night and the announcement of its Ballpark of the Year award.