| Stadium Name: | AutoZone Park |
| Logo Image: | AutoZone Park logo.png |
| Location: | 200 Union Avenue Memphis, Tennessee United States |
| Coordinates: | 35.1431°N -90.0492°W |
| Broke Ground: | January 15, 1998[1] |
| Opened: | April 1, 2000[2] |
| Owner: | City of Memphis |
| Operator: | Memphis Redbirds, LLC[3] |
| Surface: | Tifton 419 Bermuda grass |
| Construction Cost: | $80.5 million[4] ($ in dollars) |
| Architect: | Looney Ricks Kiss HOK Sport |
| Structural Engineer: | Stanley D. Lindsey & Associates[5] |
| Services Engineer: | Griffith C. Burr Inc.[6] |
| General Contractor: | Beers-Inman |
| Tenants: | Memphis Redbirds (PCL/AAAE/IL) 2000–present Memphis 901 FC (USLC) 2019–present |
| Seating Capacity: | 10,000 (2015–present)[7] 14,384 (2008–2014) 14,320 (2000–2007) |
| Record Attendance: | 18,620 (August 31, 2008; Oklahoma RedHawks vs. Memphis Redbirds)[8] |
| Dimensions: | Left field: 319 ft (97 m) Left-center field: 360 ft (110 m) Center field: 400 ft (122 m) Right-center field: 373 ft (114 m) Right field: 322 ft (98 m) |
| Publictransit: | Main Street Line at Union Avenue |
AutoZone Park is a Minor League Baseball stadium located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, and is home to the Memphis Redbirds of the International League, the Triple-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's (MLB) St. Louis Cardinals. It also hosts Memphis 901 FC of the USL Championship, the second tier of U.S. soccer. In 2009, the stadium was named Minor League Ballpark of the Year by Baseball America.[9]
Designed by Looney Ricks Kiss Architects of Memphis with Kansas City-based HOK Sport (now Populous), AutoZone Park cost $80.5 million to build. This is by far the most money ever spent on a structure dedicated to a minor league baseball team.[10] AutoZone Park was built to "MLB standards", but with the absence of outfield seats or food vendors far down the foul lines, making it, for comparison purposes, a major league stadium with only the 'good' seats". It opened in 2000, replacing Tim McCarver Stadium. The stadium also hosts some games for the University of Memphis baseball team, and most notably, the annual game with Ole Miss.
The Redbirds had been unique in baseball until recently, in that they were owned by a non-profit community foundation, the Memphis Redbirds Foundation; the Green Bay Packers of the NFL have a similar ownership structure. However, the Foundation defaulted on its bond payment in 2010. On November 15, 2013, the Foundation announced that the default would be remedied by the St. Louis Cardinals paying off the bonds at a discount and acquiring the Redbirds, while the city of Memphis resumes ownership of the stadium.[11]
The stadium hosted the 2003 Triple-A All-Star Game in which the International League All-Stars defeated the Pacific Coast League All-Stars, 13–9.[12]
In October 2004 and 2005 AutoZone Park was home to the Greater Mid-South Jaycees Field of Screams Haunted House.
In October 2005, AutoZone Park became the first venue outside of New Orleans to host the Voodoo Music Experience. One day of this music festival was moved to Memphis due to Hurricane Katrina.[13]
On December 4, 2006, at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings, MLB announced that an exhibition game to be called the Civil Rights Game would be held at AutoZone Park, with the first game on March 31, 2007. The game featured the Cardinals and the Cleveland Indians, with the Cardinals winning, 5–1.[14] The second game was played on March 29, 2008, between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Mets. The Mets defeated the White Sox, 3–2.[15]
On August 31, 2008, the ballpark's largest crowd to date witnessed the Redbirds lose to the Oklahoma RedHawks, 10–7, in front of 18,620 fans.[16]
AutoZone Park was the site of the 2016 Triple-A National Championship Game in which the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, champions of the International League, defeated the PCL-champion El Paso Chihuahuas, 3–1, before a crowd of 9,471 people on September 20.[17] The stadium once again hosted the championship game on September 17, 2019, in which the PCL's Sacramento River Cats defeated the Columbus Clippers, 4–0, with 9,123 on hand.[18]
Memphis 901 FC, a USL Championship soccer team, made their league debut at AutoZone Park on March 9, 2019, and lost 1–0 to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in front of a sellout crowd of 8,062. It was the first professional soccer match played in Memphis since 1994.[19] For soccer matches, the infield was covered with sod and a pitch was laid along the first base line.[20] The pitcher's mound was initially leveled and covered; plans to install a retractable mound for easier conversions were also discussed.[21] The team announced plans to build their own soccer-specific stadium in late 2022 at the site of the Mid-South Coliseum; the new stadium would open in 2025.[22]
AutoZone Park has a seating capacity of 10,000, and has been aptly described as "one-third" of a major league baseball park.
For its construction 17586cuyd of concrete were used, or enough to cover 11acres. There are 125738square feet of brick walls surrounding it, utilizing 380,000 specially manufactured bricks. It holds 3400short ton of steel and 227miles of electrical wiring. To build the playing field, 350short ton of clay, and 5000short ton of sand were needed. The outfield contains 100000square feet of sod. The infield is capable of draining 1inches of rain per hour. while remaining playable, which means that the field only rarely has to be covered during games.
AutoZone Park also has one of the largest video screens in minor league baseball. It is located 127feet above the play field, giving a view of the board to many areas of downtown Memphis. On January 10, 2012 the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that the Redbirds planned to install a 60by full HD video display, replacing the old video screen.[23] The new video board will be the largest in Minor League Baseball.[24]
AutoZone Park contains several special seating sections designed to give patrons a variety of viewing options.
AutoZone Park's single-game attendance record was set on August 31, 2008, for a game between the Redbirds and the Oklahoma RedHawks in front of a sellout crowd of 18,620 people.[8] The park's season attendance record of 887,976 and average attendance record of 12,507 were both set in 2001. Attendance records through the completion of the 2019 season are as follows.[29]
Bold indicates the winner of each game.
| Single-game attendance records | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Attendance | Date | Game result | ||
| 1 | 18,620 | August 31, 2008 | Oklahoma RedHawks – 2, Memphis Redbirds – 4 | ||
| 2 | 18,302 | July 4, 2006 | Nashville Sounds – 4, Memphis Redbirds – 1 | ||
| 3 | 17,508 | August 26, 2000 | Nashville Sounds – 11, Memphis Redbirds – 9 | ||
| 4 | 17,213 | July 4, 2007 | Albuquerque Isotopes – 12, Memphis Redbirds – 7 | ||
| 5 | 17,107 | April 20, 2002 | New Orleans Zephyrs – 5, Memphis Redbirds – 3 | ||
| 6 | 17,104 | August 10, 2002 | Nashville Sounds – 8, Memphis Redbirds – 3 | ||
| 7 | 17,048 | August 17, 2013 | Omaha Storm Chasers – 5, Memphis Redbirds – 4 | ||
| 8 | 16,965 | August 26, 2006 | Nashville Sounds – 1, Memphis Redbirds – 2 (10 innings) | ||
| 9 | 16,920 | July 4, 2005 | Omaha Royals – 1, Memphis Redbirds – 6 (7 innings) | ||
| 10 | 16,703 | July 4, 2004 | Nashville Sounds – 3, Memphis Redbirds – 6 | ||
| Season attendance records | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Year | Total attendance | Openings | Average attendance | |||||
| Total | Openings | Average | |||||||
| 1 | 2001 | 887,976 | — | 71 | — | 12,507 | — | ||
| 2 | 2000 | 859,823 | — | 72 | — | 11,942 | — | ||
| 3 | 2002 | 794,550 | — | 72 | — | 11,035 | — | ||
| 4 | 2003 | 749,446 | — | 72 | — | 10,409 | — | ||
| 5 | 2004 | 730,565 | — | 70 | — | 10,436 | — | ||
| 6 | 2005 | 696,083 | 3rd | 69 | 4th (tie) | 10,088 | 2nd | [30] | |
| 7 | 2006 | 692,426 | 2nd | 71 | 2nd (tie) | 9,752 | 2nd | [31] | |
| 8 | 2007 | 633,129 | 3rd | 72 | 1st (tie) | 8,793 | 3rd | [32] | |
| 9 | 2008 | 569,172 | 4th | 69 | 4th (tie) | 8,249 | 4th | [33] | |
| 10 | 2013 | 498,362 | 5th | 69 | 4th (tie) | 7,223 | 5th | [34] | |
| 11 | 2012 | 493,706 | 6th | 71 | 2nd (tie) | 6,954 | 6th | [35] | |
| 12 | 2011 | 493,528 | 6th | 70 | 3rd (tie) | 7,050 | 5th | [36] | |
| 13 | 2009 | 474,764 | 7th | 68 | 5th (tie) | 6,982 | 6th | [37] | |
| 14 | 2010 | 462,041 | 7th | 71 | 2nd (tie) | 6,508 | 7th | [38] | |
| 15 | 2014 | 381,429 | 10th | 67 | 5th | 5,693 | 9th | [39] | |
| 16 | 2017 | 350,007 | 13th | 69 | 3rd (tie) | 5,073 | 13th | [40] | |
| 17 | 2018 | 340,476 | 13th | 68 | 3rd | 5,007 | 13th | [41] | |
| 18 | 2019 | 327,753 | 15th | 66 | 5th (tie) | 4,966 | 13th | [42] | |
| 19 | 2016 | 324,581 | 15th | 69 | 4th | 4,704 | 15th | [43] | |
| 20 | 2015 | 278,579 | 16th | 69 | 4th (tie) | 4,037 | 16th | [44] | |
| 21 | 2020 | [45] | |||||||
| Totals | — | 11,038,396 | — | 1,395 | — | 7,913 | — | — | |