ONEOK Field

ONEOK Field (/ˈwʌnoʊk/ WUN-ohk)[8] is a baseball park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Located in the historic Greenwood district adjacent to downtown Tulsa, it is the home of the Tulsa Drillers of the AA Texas League. The stadium is named for ONEOK, a natural gas utility.

ONEOK Field
Location201 North Elgin Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74120
Coordinates36°9′35″N 95°59′17″W
OwnerTulsa Stadium Trust
OperatorTulsa Drillers, Inc.
Capacity7,833 [1]
Field sizeLeft field – 330 feet (101 m)
Left-center – 381 feet (116 m)
Center field – 400 feet (122 m)
Right-center – 371 feet (113 m)
Right field – 307 feet (94 m)[2]
SurfaceTifSport Bermuda grass
Construction
Broke groundDecember 19, 2008
OpenedApril 8, 2010
Construction cost$39.2 million
($46 million in 2019 dollars[3])
ArchitectPopulous
Project managerStonebridge Group, LLC.[4]
Structural engineerThornton Tomasetti[5]
Services engineerFaith Technologies, Inc.[6]
General contractorManhattan Construction Company[7]
Tenants
Tulsa Drillers (TL) (2010–present)
FC Tulsa (USLC) (2015–present)

ONEOK Field has also been the home of FC Tulsa of the USL Championship since 2015.

Construction
A view of ONEOK Field from the outfield
View of the Tulsa skyline from behind the ONEOK Field home plate

The Drillers, who then played at Drillers Stadium on the Tulsa County Fairgrounds, began looking for a replacement ballpark in about 1998; at one point they signed a non-binding letter of intent to move to the Tulsa suburb of Jenks, before efforts by then-Tulsa mayor Kathy Taylor and others led to the Drillers deciding to proceed with a downtown stadium.[9] The Drillers announced the move on June 26, 2008. The future of the stadium was for a time threatened by the financial collapse of its largest donor, SemGroup.[10] However, groundbreaking for the new ballpark went forward on December 19, 2008.[11] On January 12, 2009, ONEOK, Inc. and the Oneok Foundation announced that they would pay $5 million USD to obtain the 20-year naming rights for the new baseball park.[12]

The Drillers played their first game in the new ballpark on Thursday, April 8, 2010, losing 7-0 to the Corpus Christi Hooks before a crowd of 8,665 (more than 800 over official capacity).[13] The first pitch at the stadium was thrown by country music star, Tim McGraw.

Features

ONEOK Field was designed by architect firm HOK Sport of Kansas City, Missouri and constructed by Manhattan Construction Company. The stadium has an official capacity of 7,833, but is capable of holding up to 9,000 for special events.[14] (On May 7, 2010, the stadium had a reported record attendance of 9,417 for a Bedlam Series game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners and the Oklahoma State University Cowboys.[15]) It has 23 suites[16] and a playing field recessed about 13 feet below street level. With a construction cost of $39.2 million, the project also included the purchase of adjacent land for complementary development, for a total project budget of $60 million.

The new ballpark was intended to be more directly connected to its urban surroundings than was the old stadium at the fairgrounds, and also to have many of the same kinds of luxury amenities available in a major-league ballpark, both for fans and for the players and coaches.[17][18]

References
  1. "ONEOK Field". Tulsa Sports Commission. 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  2. Lewis, Barry (February 10, 2010). "Watch a video tour of ONEOK Field". Tulsa World. Archived from the original on April 6, 2010. Retrieved April 6, 2010. Field dimensions from home plate will be 330 feet to left field, 381 to left-center, 400 to center, 371 to right-center and 307 to right field.
  3. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  4. "Owner Representation, Construction Consultant, Project Management". Stonebridge Group. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  5. "ONEOK Field". Thornton Tomasetti. April 14, 2010. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  6. "ONEOK Field - Tulsa Driller's Stadium". Faith Technologies. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
  7. Manahan, Theresa (April 19, 2009). "Building for the Future: Minor League Stadiums". SportsBusiness Journal. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
  8. "ONEOK Image Campaign". ONEOK. Archived from the original on December 4, 2010. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  9. Hunt, Steve (March 19, 2010). "New Tulsa Park Proves Worth The Wait". Baseball America. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
  10. Lassek, P.J. (June 26, 2009). "Drillers site: Greenwood". Tulsa World. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
  11. Lassek, P.J. (December 19, 2008). "City breaks ground on downtown ballpark". Tulsa World. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
  12. Lassek, P.J. (January 13, 2009). "Baseball park named ONEOK Field". Tulsa World. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
  13. Lewis, Barry (April 9, 2010). "Downtown debut: Drillers Lose First Game at New ONEOK Field". Tulsa World. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
  14. Lewis, Barry (March 22, 2010). "Drillers Fest at ONEOK Field Scheduled for April 3". Tulsa World. Retrieved March 22, 2010.
  15. Hoover, John E. (May 7, 2010). "OU Downs OSU in Front of Record Crowd". Tulsa World. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
  16. Lassek, P.J. (August 2, 2009). "Videos: Drillers Offer Suite Spots at New Baseball Stadium". Tulsa World. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
  17. Canfield, Kevin (April 9, 2010). "Diamond Dazzles: ONEOK Field, BOK Center Draw Crowds". Tulsa World. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
  18. Klein, John (April 9, 2010). "Rockies official: ONEOK Field is Major League". Tulsa World. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
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