After recently renovating the field at Jack Coombs Stadium, the Blue Devils will be moving off campus for the majority of their home games for the foreseeable future.
Duke announced Friday that it has come to a new, seven-year agreement with the Durham Bulls Athletic Park that will allow Duke to play up to 36 exhibition and home games there starting during the 2016 season. The stadium that the Durham Bulls—the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays—currently call home is widely regarded as one of the top minor league parks in the country and has hosted the ACC tournament in past years.
Playing at the DBAP will not be entirely new for the Blue Devils. Beginning in 2010, Duke has hosted a handful of games each year in the downtown Durham ballpark, but will now have the option of playing the majority of its home contests there.
"We are well beyond ecstatic to continue and expand our close relationship with the City of Durham and specifically with the Durham Bulls Athletic Park,” Duke Vice President and Director of Athletics Kevin White said in a press release announcing the agreement. “This gold standard venue is clearly the athletics crown jewel of downtown Durham, and all the credit must be unequivocally directed toward Jim Goodmon, whose extraordinary vision has led to the remarkable revitalization of the entire American Tobacco section within the Bull City."
In addition to the three dozen games per year they will play at the DBAP, Duke will also have access to the field for a limited number of practices and a new permanent locker room and clubhouse for the Blue Devils.
In terms of on-field action, the Blue Devils will be be switching from an extreme pitchers park at Jack Coombs to the friendly confines of the DBAP, which is much more conducive to offense and scoring. The DBAP is best known for its 32-foot-high "Blue Monster" in left field—a take on the Green Monster from the Boston Red Sox's Fenway Park—and several references throughout the stadium to the classic Kevin Costner movie, "Bull Durham."
“This is a formative moment for Duke baseball,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said in the release. “I’m thrilled that our coaches, our players and our future players will have the opportunity to play and train in one of the best stadiums in the country. We’ve always enjoyed a strong relationship with the Durham Bulls and a good relationship is now a great relationship.”
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