Business View Magazine | February 2018

140 141 CHENEY STADIUM was partially due to the importation of some historical pieces from the Seals Stadium, a minor league ballpark in San Francisco, built in 1931 and demolished in 1959.“When the idea to bring baseball to Tacoma became a reality, they put six light towers on a barge, along with all the fixed seats the stadium utilized, and sent them to Tacoma,” recounts Nick Cherniske, Director of StadiumOperations.“So we had Seals Stadium seats and light towers for many years.The light towers remain and we do have a small piece of the seating bowl that actually has the same 1891 wooden seats that have been a part of baseball for over 120 years.” Since its inception, Cheney Stadium has hosted seven different minor league baseball teams; it has been the home of the Tacoma Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League, an affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, since 1995,who play 70 home games there, every season. Beginning in March 2018, the Seattle Sounders FC 2 of the United Soccer League will also play their home games at Cheney,while awaiting the construction of a new stadium of their own. The stadium also hosts concerts, commence- ments, and corporate events.“We call them ballpark takeovers,”Cherniske quips.“Because of the weather in the northwest, especially in the winter, a lot of what you see in the off- season is focused in our suites–events and parties in our restaurant and club areas.” After 58 years of continuous operation– Cheney Stadium is baseball’s second oldest Triple-A park–the city of Tacoma,which owns the stadium, along with its partners, the Ben Cheney Foundation and the team’s ownership committee, approved an ambitious $30 million, offseason renovation plan to include a new grandstand structure, roof, and con- course; new concession stands and seats; 16 luxury suites; a right field berm addition, a club/restaurant; a kids’ play area; and more restrooms.The Rainiers clubhouse and dugout, formerly located along the first base line, have shifted to third base,with visit- ing teams now residing in the fully renovated first base location.What has not changed are the views fans have grown accustomed to- the ballpark’s grandstand is still the same one constructed more than five decades ago,with the steep pitch that makes every one of its 6,500 seats in the house a great one. “Our average capacity rate is 83.6 percent, but in the summer months of the season, June, July, and August we reach the mid 90s” reports Megan Mead, Vice President of Marketing.“In the summer, there’s no more beautiful place to be than the Pacific Northwest. People love coming out to the park; it’s