Perhaps HohoKam’s most outstanding feature is the videoboard, which is reportedly the largest in the Cactus League. The concourse is 360-degrees, but it is closed from the field and has some particularly cumbersome discontinuities down the lines and in the outfield. New fold-down seats with cupholders replaced the old ones, but there are still some bleacher seats down the lines.Įven party decks reference the team’s history. The sightlines are fine and absent of anything particularly bad, but some sections down the lines could be better oriented. The overall functionality of HohoKam Stadium is average, perhaps a bit below-average for Arizona but perfectly respectable. This is one of the quintessential “otherwise ordinary ballparks that represent the teams that inhabit them” described at the end of Surprise Stadium write-up above. It’s all a wonderful sensation contrasted with the usual multi-team cookie cutter complex seen in Arizona. Murals of team greats adorn the concourses, concession stands are themed with Oakland-related monikers, some food items are from California establishments, party decks have team championship emblems, social areas have retired numbers, the kids’ area is named after the mascot. Every feature receives some kind of team branding. The remarkably consistent color scheme isn’t the only thing that screams Oakland Athletics. Nothing about it is breathtaking, except for the especially nice mountain vistas above left field, but the overarching theme is both consistent and well-articulated. Note the gold “HohoKam” sign above the berm. Even the section signage and the awnings above the portals are gold. The interior aesthetics are more of the same but still a breath of fresh air: all greens, golds, and greys. No one is going to mistake this for an architectural statement, but it’s undoubtedly “fresh” and actually pretty sleek. The oddly bleak cream tone was repainted with, you guessed it, crisp shades of green, gold, and grey. The architecture and aesthetics are utterly pedestrian, but actually quite refreshing and a definite upgrade. HoHoKam Stadium is all about the Oakland Athletics. The bleak City of Mesa Cemetery across the street defines the scene. Looking at the whole package, HohoKam Stadium’s location is probably its primary weak spot. As with all Cactus League parks except the Brewers park, it’s not terrible, but HohoKam is not located in a particularly nice area. This is excellent team branding.Īlso, those “essentials” matter: while the park doesn’t have substantive architectural intentions or any outstanding features, it doesn’t have any glaring flaws either. Inside and out, just try to count spaces that aren’t green, gold, or grey or don’t have some sort of Athletics’ reference. It turns out that the “rebranding” element and “a fresh coat of paint” was everything. So, I went into HohoKam Stadium with tepid expectations, but I came out pleasantly surprised because the facility possessed something that many of those other parks in Arizona lacked: a regional flare. This was far from the ambitious projects undertaken across Florida and Arizona, as Mesa clearly wasn’t trying to build a state-of-the-art facility. The blueprints looked identical to the old version with the structure maintained, just with new “essentials” like seats and scoreboards and a fresh coat of paint. To my great disappointment, the renamed HohoKam Stadium seemed like a rebranding project instead of a renovation project. Somewhat like Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, HokoKam was the kind of facility with basic bones that you could remake into whatever you wanted. After a series of very nice renovations in Florida, some of which were more creative than newer projects, I had high expectations. When I heard the Athletics were moving in after a full-scale renovation in 2015, I was excited. HohoKam was very much the New Comiskey Park of 90s spring training, if you will. It had all of the requisite qualities of a decent facility (360-degree concourse, berms, party decks, etc.), but it was always a remarkably bland and sterile place to see a game, yet somehow wasn’t completely inadequate either. While the site dates back to 1977, the 2.0 version of HohoKam Park rebuilt for the Cubs in 1997 was pretty clearly the weakest link of its era.
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