First National Bank Field
First National Bank Field is a Minor League Baseball park located in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina. The home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers of the High-A East, it opened on April 3, 2005. The park is on the block bounded by Bellemeade, Edgeworth, Smith, and Eugene Streets.
The stadium's seating capacity is 7,499 people, 5,300 of which are chair-back seats. The stadium was built to Double-A standards and has room for future expansion. In 2017, the Grasshoppers had the best average attendance in the South Atlantic League and the highest total attendance in the league.
History
The Grasshoppers moved to First National Bank Field after the 2004 season, leaving their previous home of many decades, World War Memorial Stadium. Lindsay Street, which once cut through the property of the new park, now T's into Eugene, and also provides a direct path to the old stadium. Greensboro's downtown stadium opened its gates to a crowd of 8,540 on April 3, 2005, with a Grasshoppers exhibition game against the Florida Marlins, who were their Major League Baseball affiliate. In the first regular season game, the Grasshoppers defeated the Hickory Crawdads, 3–2, in front of 8,017 fans.On May 5, 2009, it was announced that the 2010 ACC baseball tournament would be held at the facility, a change from the discussed location of Fenway Park in Boston, due to economic reasons. Florida State won the tournament.
From May 23 to 27, 2012, the park hosted the 2012 ACC baseball tournament, which was won by Georgia Tech. During this time, the University of North Carolina took on North Carolina State University in a game that broke the record for attendance at a college baseball game in the state of North Carolina. It was also the largest crowd ever for an ACC baseball game. The attendance, 10,229, was the largest crowd in the history of First National Bank Field.