Pelicans Ballpark

• Name: Pelicans Ballpark
• GPS-able Address: 1251 21st Avenue North, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
• Ballpark Owner: City of Myrtle Beach and Horry County
• Architects: Mozingo + Wallace Architects
• Groundbreaking: 3/11/1998
• Minor League Baseball/Professional Development League Teams: Myrtle Beach Pelicans (A) 2021-present; Myrtle Beach Pelicans (A+) 1999-2020
• Pro Baseball Class/League History: A/Carolina League 2022-present; A/Low-A East 2021; A+/Carolina League 1999-2020
• First Pro Baseball Game: 4/12/1999; stadium debut of Class A Pelicans
• Others Playing or Operating Here: None
• Previous Ballpark Names: TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark 2012-2021; BB&T Coastal Field 2008-2011; Coastal Federal Field 1999-2007
• LF: 308 CF: 400 RF: 328
• Seats: 4,800
• Stated Capacity: 6,600
• House Baseball/Softball Record Attendance (as currently configured): 6,600, multiple (cap)

Pelicans Ballpark in Myrtle Beach, SC, is the home of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, the Chicago Cubs' Single-A Carolina League farm team. Opened as Coastal Federal Field in 1999, its name changed after BB&T Bank bought Coastal Federal Bank in 2008 and again when BB&T didn't renew that contract.

TicketReturn.com entered into a 2012 naming contract that was announced as a one-year deal but lasted through the 2021 season.

MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization greatly expanded existing standards for stadiums hosting affiliated teams. The city of Myrtle Beach and Horry County are mulling over whether to spend millions for the necessary upgrades by the 2025 season, build a new facility - or lose the team.

A possible perfect storm seems to be shaping up. The city and the county jointly own the stadium, a 70-30 split with the city both the larger partner and the manager. That contract expires at the end of the 2023 season, and some Horry County elected officials are talking about using the expiration to get out before they have to cover their share of the upgrades. The idea isn't necessarily the end of the team - present talk is just turning their share of the stadium, and the resulting obligations, over to the city.[1]

If you see a Pelicans game, as opposed to a Durham Bulls game, you're actually watching the franchise that was depicted in Bull Durham (1988). That film made the Bulls such a success that they soon outgrew their ballpark, their city built them a bigger one, and their city then outgrew them - landing a Triple-A expansion franchise in 1998. The displaced Bulls played that season in Danville, VA, while Myrtle Beach built them a new ballpark.