Coca-Cola Park is a baseball park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It is the home field for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Triple-A level Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Coca-Cola Park accommodates 10,178 fans, including auxiliary areas (lawn, dugout suites, and Tiki Terrace), and cost $50.25 million to build.
Features
The stadium features the team "clubhouse" store, which sells team apparel. The Bacon Strip is an area immediately behind the right field wall that provides patrons the opportunity to stand and socialize during the game. The team's name is drawn from
pig iron, used in the manufacturing of
steel, a vital industry in the
Lehigh Valley for most of the 20th century. References to the "pig" theme are used in the majority of concession stands and stores. The Picnic Patio is immediately adjacent to left field that features buffet style food and can be booked by groups. The club level of the stadium features an indoor concourse with access to the club level seats, the suites and the two party porches.
Dugout Suites are situated immediately behind home plate and slightly sunken in below field level. There is a kid zone with a playground area and a number of games, including speed pitch and slides.
In 2012, the park added the Tiki Terrace in Left Field over the bullpens which features large group seating, tables for four, and a bar area accessible to all ticketed fans.
The maximum capacity is 10,178, which includes 8,278 seats plus seating for 1,900 on the grass berm in center field. There is one main scoreboard which is located at the 400' mark on the field. The scoreboard consists of a 20' × 50' high definition video board, a 76' × 4' LED ribbon board, as well as a large Coca-Cola bottle, which also serves as a firework launcher when a run is scored.
In addition to its traditional stadium seating, Coca-Cola Park has a wide variety of seating options, including the grass berm, picnic table, fold-down seats, and standing room. The initial estimate of the IronPigs stadium was $48.4 million. Its final price tag of $50.25 million, just four percent over the estimate, makes Coca-Cola Park one of the most expensive Minor League Baseball stadiums in the nation.
History
2006 groundbreaking
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new ballpark were held on September 6, 2006,
and construction was completed in February 2008. Coca-Cola Park was built on land formerly owned by
LSI Corporation.
The field dimensions and wall heights are similar to those at Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia differing in left field being six feet closer (323 feet, with the addition of the new "Pig Pen" seating section in 2015, to the foul pole compared to 329), center field being one foot shorter and the right field foul pole being five feet closer (325 feet in Allentown compared to 330 feet at Citizens Bank Park).
With its completion, Coca-Cola Park is Allentown's newest stadium, but it is not the city's largest. That distinction belongs to J. Birney Crum Stadium, which has a seating capacity in excess of 15,000,
The layout of Coca-Cola Park is slightly different from most ballparks with the main entrance located on the right field line rather than the common location behind home plate. Fans with club seating tickets, however, have a designated entrance behind home plate.
First concert: Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and John Mellencamp concert
The park hosted its first major non-sporting event on July 14, 2009 with a concert headlined by
Bob Dylan,
Willie Nelson, and
John Mellencamp. More than 10,000 people attended the five-hour show, which was sold out. Following the event's success, Coca-Cola Park management indicated there was a good possibility other concerts would be held at the park in the future.
2010 Triple-A All Star Game
The stadium hosted the 2010 Triple-A All-Star Game in which the International League All-Stars defeated the Pacific Coast League All-Stars, 2–1.
Usage by the Phillies
The stadium served as the Philadelphia Phillies' alternate training site in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of the Minor League Baseball season and abbreviated the Major League Baseball season.
[ Dykstra, Sam. "Roundup: Major League alternate training sites," Minor League Baseball, Thursday, July 16, 2020. Retrieved August 28, 2020]
Rehab stints
In August 2022, as Phillies' star right fielder
Bryce Harper was designated to the IronPigs in a final step in his rehabilitation stint as part of his comeback from a fractured thumb, IronPigs' fans in Allentown greeted Harper's appearance enthusiastically, and games featuring Harper against the Gwinnett Stripers at Coca-Cola Park quickly sold out to the stadium's 10,100 capacity. In his August 23 appearance with the IronPigs at Coca-Cola Park, Harper homered twice against the Stripers.
[ "Lehigh Valley is embracing Bryce Harper for as long as he's there", Philly Voice, August 25, 2022] In 2015
Chase Utley had a rehab stint in Lehigh Valley. During that stint there was a home game where he hit a home run to a sold out crowd.
Seating options
The seating options at Coca-Cola park include: The Oasis "Island" where each island includes circular half-table cocktail-style seating for the four fans in the party and wait service, club and field level seating, the "Bacon Strip" which is bar stool seating in left field, the "Pig Pen" which are seats just beyond the home run fence in right field, and general admission which allows fans access to the lawn, the Rum Bar area, the Tiki Terrace Bar and all standing room drink rail areas on the concourse.
Location and transportation
The stadium is located on the east side of Allentown. The eastern segment of
American Parkway provides access to the main entrance to the stadium and is accessible from U.S. Route 22. Union Boulevard and Airport Road serve as local arterials to the stadium.
Paid parking is available on several on-site lots.
External links
