Vegas Ball Gets an Upgrade

The handsome home plate entry to Las Vegas Ballpark, Sep-2019.

The suite and press box levels are designed to look like a hangar.

A view from behind the plate.

Chronological Tour: Stop 410

• Location: Pavilion Center Drive at Summerlin Centre Drive, Summerlin, Nev. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 2019
• Home team: Las Vegas Aviators, Pacific Coast League (2019-present)
• Capacity: 9,354

Rating: 5 baseballs

Summerlin is a planned community partly within the city of Las Vegas, but the ballpark itself, and the Downtown Summerlin shopping and entertainment district in which it is located, are just outside city limits. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority decided to sponsor the ballpark, giving it the name of the city despite its not actually being in the city.

Out beyond left field of the new ballpark is the practice facility for the Vegas Golden Knights, the hockey team that entered the NHL via expansion in 2017 and made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals in its first season. The home arena for the Golden Knights is likewise outside city limits, located on the south end of “the Strip”.

The team, which had been called the 51s in reference to the desert test site known as “Area 51”, received a new name along with a new ballpark. The club is known as the Aviators, owing to the fact that Summerlin is a Howard Hughes Corporation development. As a result, there is an aviation motif around the park, including a suite and press box building designed to look like a hangar. The public address announcer is also referred to as “the Captain”.

Ticket prices here are expensive, but no more so than some of the other Pacific Coast League parks, notably Oklahoma City and Sacramento. Concession prices are also a little on the high side. This does not detract from the facility, though.