The Triple-A Int'l League Charlotte Knights yesterday announced the team's new BB&T Ballpark has been selected by MiLB "to host the 2014 Gildan Triple-A National Championship Game," according to Seth Lakso of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The "one-game, winner-take-all showdown" features the champions of the Int'l League and Pacific Coast League and is scheduled for Sept. 16. The game will be televised live nationally on NBCSN. Knights COO Dan Rajkowski said, "Our goals from the beginning for BB&T Ballpark have been to provide the Knights with a first-class Triple-A facility and to utilize this ballpark for community events and to bring national attention to our city." MiLB President & CEO Pat O'Connor: "Charlotte, with the new ballpark and the enthusiasm of moving uptown was a natural selection." Rajkowski said that more events "are planned for BB&T Ballpark" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 11/6).
GETTING CLOSE: Rajkowski addressed the ongoing construction at the ballpark, which is scheduled to open April 11. He said, "The seats are going in. The field (was) laid on Monday. Once you put a field down, that really tells people it’s getting close. At the end of the year, we’ll have a temporary certificate of occupancy. ... Our goal is to have our staff in there in the second week of February." He added painting at the facility is "85 percent finished." Rajkowski: "We don’t want to be opening this without it totally ready for the fans. A lot of the scoreboards, video boards, will go in after the first of the year, so we’re not really intruding on the construction. (We want to) really get the production room right, get the run of show correct, sound systems perfect, field lighting perfect." Rajkowski said of ticket sales, "We’re about 45 percent of our goal of 3,600 season tickets -- that’s outside of our suites and clubs and all that. Suites are gone, we found we had a few club seats but I think we have a waiting list so those will be gone. Now the season tickets are the ones our staff is working on" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/5).
