Riders Field is a baseball park in Frisco, Texas, United States.

The home of the

Frisco
RoughRiders, a Double-A team of the Texas League, it opened on April 3, 2003, and
can seat
10,216 people. Primarily a venue for Minor League Baseball games, the facility also
hosts high
school and college baseball tournaments and other public and private events. It has
been the site of
three Texas League All-Star Games. In his design, park architect David M. Schwarz
desired the
creation of a village-like "park within a (ball)park". The stadium received the
2003 Texas
Construction award for Best Architectural Design. Attendance for RoughRiders games
at the
stadium has consistently placed first or second in the Texas League and at the
Double-A
classification since its opening. After having the second-highest attendance in its
first two seasons, it
had the highest in the league and classification from 2005 to 2019.
Development[edit]
In 2001, Mandalay Sports Entertainment, owner of the Shreveport SwampDragons
Double-A
baseball team, members of the Texas League, reached an agreement with Southwest
Sports Group
to move the team to Frisco, Texas, for the 2003 season.[7] As part of the deal,
Southwest Sports
Group assumed part-ownership of both the team and the ballpark to be built in
Frisco.[8] The project,
designed by David M. Schwarz Architectural Services and HKS Sports & Entertainment
Group,
[5]
broke ground on February 6, 2002.[4]
The ballpark was conceived as the anchor of a 74-acre (0.30 km2
) $300 million development project
near the intersection of State Highway 121 and the Dallas North Tollway.
[8] The project was jointly
funded by the city of Frisco and Southwest Sports Group. The city put forth $67
million to build the
complex, which was raised through special financing, unconnected to the city tax
rate.[8]
Naming rights[edit]
Local soft-drink manufacturing company Dr Pepper/Seven Up purchased the naming
rights to the
stadium in January 2003 for ten years with an option for a further five years,
naming it Dr
Pepper/Seven Up Ballpark.[9] This was shortened to Dr Pepper Ballpark prior to the
2006 season.[10]
In August 2017, Dr Pepper Snapple Group declined to renew their expiring naming
rights
agreement.[11] The RoughRiders began looking for a new naming-rights partner during
the 2017
season.[12] With Dr Pepper signage still in place at the park before the 2019
season, an unidentified
former team employee told the Dallas Observer that the name stayed the same because
the team
did not want to spend money replacing the old signs.[12] During that season, a May
23 Dallas News
story about Keurig Dr Pepper's growing presence in Frisco and other North Dallas
suburbs stated
that Dr Pepper was the ballpark's sponsor, but no specific details of a new naming
rights agreement
were given.[13] As of January 2021, the ballpark continued to bear the soft drink's
name.[14]
Beginning with the start of the 2021 season, the ballpark is known as Riders Field.
[15]