A new Bristol State Liners ballpark is now set for a June 2024 opening, as the Appalachian League team finalizes plans for expansion of a Whitetop Creek baseball field, on the Tennessee side of the city.
Earlier this month the City of Bristol (Tn.) awarded a design agreement for the project to Mattern & Craig. The State Liners currently play at Boyce Cox Field, but the team has been exploring new ballpark options for several years. Boyce Cox Field, a facility on the Virginia side of the twin cities of Bristol, VA and Bristol, TN., opened in 1969. In recent years, the ballpark’s deteriorating condition has posed some challenges for Bristol Baseball Inc.–concrete bleachers behind home plate and along the first-base line became unsafe to the point of being shut down, and bumps in the outfield have hampered the playing field.
June 2024 makes for a tight deadline, especially when the design work for the new facility is not done, per the Bristol Herald-Courier: “It starts with a site survey and we start putting our hands together, you know, what’s the field look like? What’s the dugouts look like? Here’s the buildings, and then from that, they will design and develop the architectural drawings that we put out to bid and hire a construction company to build,” Terry Napier, the director of Parks and Recreation. said.
The expected cost of the new ballpark is $7 million: $5 million from the Bristol City Council and $2 million from a private source.
ICYMI: Yesterday was the ground breaking on the new ballpark set to open in 2024! As a part of the festivities, former Appy League and MLB Manager, Jim Leyland, was inducted into the Appy League Hall of Fame! pic.twitter.com/cvBIAidFiM
— Bristol State Liners (@thestateliners) July 20, 2023
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