Arvest Ballpark

• Name: Arvest Ballpark
• GPS-able Address: 3000 Gene George Boulevard, Springdale, AR 72762
• Ballpark Owner: City of Springdale
• Architects: HOK Sport (now Populous)
• Groundbreaking: 2/28/2007
• Minor League Baseball Tenants: Northwest Arkansas Naturals (AA) 2008-present
• Class/League of MiLB tenants: AA/Texas League 2022-present; AA/Double-A Central 2021; AA/Texas League 2008-2020]]
• First Pro Baseball Game: 4/10/2008; stadium debut of Class AA Naturals
• Other Current Tenants: None
• Previous Ballpark Names: None
• LF: 325 CF: 400 RF: 325
• Seats: 5,353
• Stated Capacity: 7,305
• House Baseball/Softball Record Attendance (as currently configured): 8,998, 5/20/2009

Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, AR, is the home of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, the Kansas City Royals' Double-A Texas League farm team. It twice lost a Naturals-Royals exhibition game to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The last "downtown retro" ballpark HOK Sport designed before it spun off its ballparks division landed a naming-rights deal with the Arkansas-based bank before it even opened. Springdale corralled a commitment from the Wichita Wranglers in 2007, broke ground and signed Arvest later that year, and opened the playpen in 2008.

The new architect, Populous, is by far the leader in baseball stadiums built since its inception and - as a division of HOK - dating back to 1988. HOK remained a leading architect and, after a spin-off no-compete, resumed professional baseball stadiums in 2017 by signing to design Las Vegas Ballpark.

Arvest seats 5,353 with a stated capacity of 7,305, but reported 7,820 for its inaugural game. No season home opener since has drawn that many, but the figure has been eclipsed often and by a lot - and, in fact, has been pushed out of the stadium's top 10 crowds. The Nats currently list their biggest gate ever as 8,998 on May 20, 2009, the first eight of the top 10 are all more than 8,000, and the tenth is 7,886.

Assuming no attendance limitations, a Royals-Nats exhibition game would almost certainly reset that list. After the second COVID cancellation in 2022, the teams said they will try again "in a future year".

MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization mandated new ballpark standards whose costs ran into millions of dollars for many facilities. The Nats replaced the playing field, but say they would have anyway under the maintenance guide that was put together for the park when it opened. Other deficiencies are relatively minor, leading the team to say it hopes to be in full compliance a year ahead of the 2025 deadline.