Autozone Park Memphis, TN
Stadium Minor League History: Pacific Coast League 2000-present
Current Status: Home
of the Memphis Red Birds of the Pacific Coast League (AAA)
What's Good: Autozone
Park has a lot going for it. First of all, it's right in downtown
Memphis, and is surrounded by enough local architecture to create a well-established
sense of place. The famous Peabody Hotel (yes, the one with the ducks),
for instance, is across the street, and its rooftop
sign can be seen from inside the ballpark. Another positive feature
is a lack of advertising signage on the outfield
wall (though advertising does exist, of course, on the scoreboard and
the facing of the second deck). Furthermore, like most newer stadia
(at both the major and minor league levels), the main concourse runs behind
the last row of the lower seating area, providing an airy feel, an ease
of circulation, and views of the field from almost anywhere. As in
other new parks, this concourse extends out around the outfield and loops
back, a great feature for folks who like to check out different views,
take pictures, try to snag foul or home run balls, or just stretch their
legs. In addition, ticket and concession prices were reasonable for
the AAA level, though food choices were not as great as at some newer places.
And though the use of red brick and dark green paint has become a ballpark
cliche in recent years, Autozone Park's use of this color scheme is still
preferable to the large amounts of unpainted concrete found at similar
venues. Other plusses include a beautiful playing field, a lack of
dopey on-field promotions, and a mascot that was mostly unobstrusive.
And there'll soon be an added bonus -- the Minor League Hall of Fame and
Museum is going to be right next door.
What's Not So Good: The
biggest drawback (visually, at least) to Autozone is its bulk and its surfeit
of luxury seating. The lower deck is of average size for a triple-A
stadium, but there's a second level (mostly sold out season tickets) with
luxury boxes behind it, and then a third level -- comprised entirely of
luxury seating -- above that. This creates a structure with a lot
of vertical elevation, but in which only a seemingly small portion is designed
for regular fans (adding to this sense of economic segregation is the fact
that the doors and stairways to the upper levels are not even marked).
And as for minor irritants, the souvenir store seemed somewhat lacking
in variety of merchandise (though to be fair, this is the first year of
operations), and the scoreboard -- which displays the line score on a video
screen, switches to advertisements between innings and thus one couldn't
check on the score or whatever during these few minutes.
This Photo:
June 19, 2000 Memphis Redbirds vs. Salt Lake Buzz
