UF’s brand new Florida Ballpark finally saw some action this week, as the Gators baseball team competed in two intra-squad scrimmages on Thursday and Friday.
It marked the debut of the new park, which replaces Alfred A. McKethan Stadium, built in 1988. The stadium was announced in May 2018, and construction started the following February. It finished in August.
The park seats 7,000 fans, though that can be expanded to over 10,000. It features a shaded overhang that covers most of the 4,000 chairs with seat backs, something McKethan notoriously lacked.
A first look inside the new Florida Ballpark at Alfred A. McKethan Field @alligatorSports pic.twitter.com/IT2EgkCNwg
— Ryan Haley (@ryan_dhaley) October 22, 2020
McKethan Stadium never received a proper send-off due to COVID-19, which ended Florida’s 2020 baseball season, its final one in the old park, prematurely.
The replacement of the aging stadium, which lacked amenities like shading and seatbacks most other stadiums in the SEC have, has been highly anticipated for years now.
A beautiful day for some fall Gator baseball and a closer look at the new Florida Ballpark pic.twitter.com/aQuNjw6T9J
— Sara Kate Dyson (@sarakatedyson) October 23, 2020
The Gators will have to wait until February to officially christen the stadium with a real game, but for now, fans at least get a taste of what’s to come with the new ballpark.
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