Lee Erwin Reporting
lerwin@clarksvillenow.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The radio announcer for the Nashville Sounds, Jeff Hem, was the guest speaker at the Kiwanis Club of Clarksville at their weekly meeting Tuesday, October 28. Hem updated Kiwanis members on the progress of the new First Tennessee Park and the teams new major league affiliation with the Oakland A’s.
The new First Tennessee Park located on Jackson Street will feature many choices in seating from premium club level, dugout to bullpen and more. There will also be 18 suites, party terraces and group seating areas as well as pre-game areas and a greenway surrounding the outfield.
The ballpark offers more entrances, wider concourses, more restrooms as well as a new 150 foot wide guitar shaped scoreboard. The ballpark, which has the skyline of downtown Nashville as a backdrop, is set to be open for the first home game for the Sounds on April 17, 2015.
Hem talked about the teams affiliation with the Oakland A’s which began in September after the Sounds moved from the Milwaukee Brewers. “The Oakland A’s provide our players, they pay them, they draft them, they scout them and they sign them. The Sounds are not owned by the Oakland A’s,” said Hem.
Hem added that it’s an agreement that says the Sounds will provide the ballpark and the signage along with selling the tickets and the concessions. The Sounds are one of 30 Triple-A teams in the country and one of 16 teams in the Pacific Coast League. and in the season they play a 144 game schedule.
In the Triple-A season schedule which runs from the first week in April through Labor Day of 2015, the Sounds will play 144 games in 152 days.
To learn more about the Nashville Sounds and to track progress on the new ballpark, you can access a live webcam at nashvillesounds.com or FirstTennesseepark.com.