By Sarah Honosky
- April 21 was opening day for HomeTrust Park, formerly McCormick Field, the city owned stadium just south of downtown.
- It also marks the culmination of multi-million dollar renovations required to bring the stadium into compliance with new Major League Baseball standards.
- Without renovations, Asheville Tourists’ owner Brian DeWine said the city would have lost its minor league team.
ASHEVILLE – As thousands of fans poured through the gates of HomeTrust Park on April 21 for a sold-out opening day, it marked not only the beginning of the home season, but the culmination of 18-month, multimillion-dollar renovations needed to secure the future of Minor League Baseball in Asheville.
Decked-out in gear, from vintage Tourists jackets, to the newer “Beer City” hats and Snot Otters jerseys, people flocked to food lines, bought drinks and found their seats. They were welcomed by an expanded team store, a new entry plaza and murals by local artists.
There’s a brand-new scoreboard and playing surface, renovated bathrooms and 12,500 square feet of additional fan concourse and courtyard areas. Player amenities have been upgraded, including the addition of a home clubhouse.
But the classics stayed the same: Cold beer, hot dogs and “America’s pastime.”
Opening its six-game series against the Greenville Drive, the Tourists lost the night’s contest 8-4.
From 10-week-old Avery, experiencing her first baseball game in her mom’s arms, to sisters Merle and Gail Love, who have been coming to the park for decades, the 4,000 opening day visitors ran the gamut of experience at the historic stadium, one of the oldest minor league ballparks still in use.
But a few years ago, that status was threatened.
Asheville Tourists owner Brian DeWine gave the warning in 2022: Without extensive improvements required by Major League Baseball, which calls the shots on facility upgrades for affiliated minor league ballclubs nationwide, the city would lose its team.
At a March 2023 meeting, Asheville City Council voted to back the needed renovations at the city owned stadium. The nearly $40 million project managed to secure funding from the city, Buncombe County, the Tourism Development Authority and the team itself, which until signing a new agreement in May 2025, was leasing the field for $1 a year. Now it pays the city $450,000 annually.
The project broke ground in August 2024.
The Tourists are the High-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. Over the stadium’s century-long history, the field has hosted players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jackie Robinson and was featured in the the 1988 movie “Bull Durham.”
Last week, the Tourists announced the ballpark would be renamed HomeTrust Park beginning this season, drawing ire from some, with the naming rights revenue incorporated into the funding model.
‘We’re family’
Jarod Werner, 45, a sixth-grade teacher, was among those celebrating opening day in a 2019 “Beer City” jersey, overlooking the newly refurbished field from his seat along the first baseline.
Of what brought him out to the game, Werner admitted it’s kind of a “long story.”
It started 11 years ago at then-McCormick Field after he and his buddies struck up a conversation with a nearby couple, Guy Skinner and Diane Vander Linden, from Weaverville. They’ve been watching games together nearly every summer since.
The twist? Werner and his friends live in Minnesota. They were at McCormick Field in 2015 to watch the South Atlantic League All-Star Game, having spent a few weeks road-tripping between different minor league stadiums across the country — 13 parks in 17 days.
But despite the distance, they stayed in touch. Werner, his brother, Wade, 48, and friend Joe Ploetz, 49, all teachers, have traveled back over the years to visit Skinner, 68, and Vander Linden, 65.
“We’re family now,” Skinner said April 21 from his seat in front of Werner.
They were overjoyed to see the Minor League Baseball team remain at the stadium. Skinner and Van Linden were among those who went to City Council and County Commission to advocate for the needed funding, with the others watching virtually from afar.
Skinner, who has been going to Tourist games for about 60 years, spoke at the March 2023 council meeting, where he also read a few comments from Jarod, despite worrying he would start to cry.
“As much as it is local and we love it, and it’s a gem of ours … we have friends from Ohio, Minnesota, Tennessee, all these people and they come and the one thing they have in common is: We want to go to a Tourists game,” he said in his address to council.
Of how they felt about the name change, Vander Linden summed it up: “It will always be McCormick Field to us.”
Renovation were a ‘longtime coming’
After a tour of the stadium renovations April 20, accompanied by city staff, media, and other stakeholders, owner DeWine said if the renovations hadn’t happened, the Tourists would be playing somewhere else right now.
The work was a “longtime coming,” he said, not only to keep affiliated baseball in the city, but because the 1924 ballfield was outdated and lacked “modern-day amenities.”
The team’s new lease with the city provided it with the authority to market and sell the naming rights. He declined to say the revenue amount for the sale.
While DeWine acknowledged “everyone has their opinion” on the renaming, he said “the history of the ballpark did not go away when we changed the name.”
McCormick Field was named for Dr. Lewis McCormick, the city’s only bacteriologist who started the “Swat That Fly” campaign in 1905 to reduce the area’s burgeoning problem with the housefly. He died in 1922. Tourists teams have been playing at the stadium since it opened through different iterations and under multiple Major League Baseball affiliations.
Fans like the Love sisters like opening night, looking forward to ballpark food such as hot dogs and nachos. Merle said she was excited to see all the changes made as part of the renovations.
“How could you not come to a ballgame?” she said.
How is the project paid for?
The renovations will also allow the stadium to host non-baseball events, with flexible space that can be used year-round.
Chris Corl, the city’s director of community and regional entertainment facilities, which includes HomeTrust Park, said in the coming months, the field will host the Big South Conference Baseball Championship, and a regional volleyball tournament.
It has not officially booked a concert yet, but a few are close, Corl told the Citizen Times.
The total project price tag is $39.5 million, Corl said. The total expense over the life of the debt service is around $56 million.
Funding breakdown over 20 years:
- City of Asheville: $875,000 per year for 20 years (total: $17.5 million)
- Buncombe County: $5 million
- Tourism Development Authority: $1.95 million up front and $1.4 million per year for 15 years (total: $22.95 million)
- Asheville Tourists: $450,000 for the first five years, then $475,000 for 15 years. The team contributed $2 million up front (total: $11.38 million)
Renovations include:
- Murals by local artists.
- The Explore Asheville History Walk.
- A new 9,260-square-foot home clubhouse with integrated batting tunnels.
- A fully renovated visiting clubhouse.
- Dedicated strength and conditioning facilities.
- Expanded premium and group hospitality areas, including a new club lounge.
- Enhanced fan amenities, including an expanded team store, improved ticketing areas and a new entry plaza.
- Renovated bathrooms throughout the facility.
- 12,500 square feet of new fan concourse and courtyard areas.
- A brand-new playing surface.
- New LED field lighting.
- An upgraded sound system and a new 70-foot-wide-by-34-foot high LED videoboard, along with a broadcast booth and video production room.
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com.