The summer-collegiate Coastal Plain League and owner Capital Broadcasting Company landed the Five County Stadium lease made available after the departure of the Carolina Mudcats for nearby Wilson.
Capital Broadcasting Company also owns the Durham Bulls (Triple-A; International League) as well as the Coastal Plain League’s Holly Springs Salamanders and Greenville Yard Gnomes.
According to a county press release, the Wake County Board of Commissioners and Town of Zebulon both approved the 10-year Five County Stadium lease last night. Capital Broadcasting will pay a total of $710,000 to the County and the Town to lease the facility for the duration of the agreement, which expires Dec. 31, 2035. The County and Town will also receive a share of ballpark naming rights revenues. As part of the deal, the County Commission will receive $238,000 in lease termination and rent payments from the Carolina Mudcats and transferred $8.5 million within County capital funds to support upcoming major facility projects.
Planned upgrades beginning in 2026 include replacing the existing field with a synthetic surface, installing new outfield walls and lighting, refreshing locker rooms and offices, and renovating or adding new social gathering and family play spaces. Concession and concourse improvements will further modernize the venue.
The Mudcats began life as a Double-A Southern League team when Steve Bryant opened Five County Stadium in 1991, in a move designed to put the former Columbus Mudcats close to the rapidly growing Raleigh-Durham Research Triangle. But the growth in the market didn’t quite make it some 20 miles east to Zebulon from Raleigh. That Mudcats franchise was sold to Quint Studer and moved to Pensacola, while a High-A Carolina League team replaced the Class AA team, keeping the Mudcats name and staff. The Milwaukee Brewers bought majority interest in the Mudcats in October 2017 and engineered a move of the MiLB licensee to nearby Wilson. (Ironically, the Mudcats played during their first season at Fleming Stadium while Five County Stadium was under construction.)
Five County Stadium featured one of the more interesting–and quirky–ballpark designs in the minor leagues, with a steeply raked grandstand more reminiscent of a football stadium than a ballpark, sitting atop sheltered seating and a sit-down restaurant, as well as team spaces and clubhouses.
Image courtesy Visit Raleigh.
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