Home of the Owlz, and Wolverines

Main (third base) entrance to the ballpark at Utah Valley State College, Aug-2006.

The sun sets behind the ballpark; during the day, Utah Lake is visible to the left.

As always in Utah, the Wasatch Front helps out with the view.

Chronological Tour: Stop 319

• Location: University Parkway at I-15, Orem, Utah (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 2005
• Additional names: Brent Brown Ballpark (2007), UCCU Ballpark (2018)
• Home team: Orem Owlz, Pioneer League (2005-19); Utah Valley University Wolverines, Western Athletic Conference
• Capacity: 4,000

Rating: 4 baseballs

Who? This fellow used to hoot for the Owlz all game long.

I did find a flaw in that the park has only the one entrance, down the third-base line. The rest of the exterior faces the campus access road, which is well below concourse level. Another issue is that there was a $4 charge to park for Owlz games (it helps the Owlz pay the school for rent, as I understand it; it was not charged on my 2019 visit). Otherwise, the park is a fine facility.

However, I left the park after my 2006 game humming the old America song “A Horse with No Name”, because this was a park with no name. Early press releases had it as Parkway Crossing Stadium, which reflected a sponsor who operates off-campus student housing. However, Parkway Crossing failed to make its payments to the college, and so the name never appeared on the park. The pro team is referring to it as simply the “Home of the Owlz”, while the school, which became Utah Valley University in 2008, accepted a donation from a local automobile dealer in June 2007 to rename the facility as Brent Brown Ballpark. Once that naming deal expired, Utah Community Credit Union took over the naming sponsorship of both the ballpark and the adjacent indoor sports arena.

Sadly, time marches on and the fellow depicted at right who hooted for the Owlz is no longer alive. As of my 2019 game, no one had taken over the tradition. That, as it turned out, was the last season for the Owlz in Orem. The COVID-19 pandemic put the kibosh on the 2020 season, and then the club opted to relocate to Windsor, Colo., and open a new park in 2022. UVU, of course, will continue to play at the stadium.