PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — In just a few years, baseball games will look a bit different for Hillsboro Hops fans.
On Wednesday morning, the team and the City of Hillsboro announced their plans to construct a ballpark on the northwest side of the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex, which houses the Ron Tonkin Field that the team currently uses for home games.
According to their release, the new baseball stadium will also serve as a year-round outdoor entertainment hub that could host more than 300 baseball games, concerts, festivals and other events annually.
The venue is expected to have a capacity of 6,000 attendees for baseball games, and a potential 7,000 attendees for other events.
“The City appreciates the Hops as a partner and recognizes the unique value the organization brings to the community,” Hillsboro City Manager Robby Hammond said. “Creating a more robust regional entertainment destination will provide long term benefits to the City as well as the Hops.”
Construction on the new ballpark is set to start in late summer 2023, and the Hops say the stadium could have a price tag of up to $120 million once it’s fully constructed ahead of the 2025 baseball season.
In late 2020, Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks invited the Hops to become their Single-A Advanced affiliate. This promotion ushered in updated MLB facility requirements for the Hillsboro team. The Hops say their initial plan was to renovate the Ron Tonkin Field, but they found that a full construction project would be more ‘cost-effective.’
“This new ballpark is going to be a generational project that serves as a community gathering place for decades to come,” Hops President and General Manager K.L. Wombacher said “This is a gamechanger for our region and perfectly aligns with the City’s vision, as well as ours, to provide the best community to live, work, and PLAY.”
The Hops will cover most of the stadium’s cost through their own funding. Hillsboro’s Transient Lodging Tax will contribute to the stadium as well.