page_title: AutoZone Park
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: AutoZone Park / History
caption_attribution_description: 23:26, 7 September 2005 . . EMcCutchan . . 1024×768 (312,524 bytes) (An exterior photograph of AutoZone Park's main entrance)
context_page_description: AutoZone Park is a Minor League Baseball stadium located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, and is home to the Memphis Redbirds of the Pacific Coast League and Memphis 901 FC of the USL Championship. The Redbirds are the Triple-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's St. Louis Cardinals. In 2009, the stadium was named Minor League Ballpark of the Year by Baseball America.
context_section_description: Designed by Looney Ricks Kiss Architects of Memphis with Kansas City-based HOK Sport, AutoZone Park cost $80.5 million to build. This is by far the most money ever spent on a structure dedicated to a minor league baseball team.
  AutoZone Park was built to "MLB standards", but with the absence of outfield seats or food vendors far down the foul lines, making it, for comparison purposes, a major league stadium with only the 'good' seats". It opened in 2000, replacing Tim McCarver Stadium.  The stadium also hosts some games for the University of Memphis baseball team, and most notably, the annual game with Ole Miss.
  The Redbirds had been unique in baseball until recently, in that they were owned  by a non-profit community foundation, the Memphis Redbirds Foundation;  the Green Bay Packers of the NFL have a similar ownership structure. However, the Foundation defaulted on its bond payment in 2010. On November 15, 2013, the Foundation announced that the default would be remedied by the St. Louis Cardinals paying off the bonds at a discount and acquiring the Redbirds, while the city of Memphis resumes ownership of the stadium.
  The stadium hosted the 2003 Triple-A All-Star Game in which the International League All-Stars defeated the Pacific Coast League All-Stars, 13–9.
  In October 2004 and 2005 AutoZone Park was home to the Greater Mid-South Jaycees Field of Screams Haunted House.
  In October 2005, AutoZone Park became the first venue outside of New Orleans to host the Voodoo Music Experience.  One day of this music festival was moved to Memphis due to Hurricane Katrina.
  On December 4, 2006, at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings, MLB announced that an exhibition game to be called the Civil Rights Game would be held at AutoZone Park, with the first game on March 31, 2007. The game featured the Cardinals and the Cleveland Indians, with the Cardinals winning 5-1. The second game was played on March 29, 2008, between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Mets. The Mets defeated the White Sox 3-2.
  On August 31, 2008, the ballpark's largest crowd to date witnessed the Redbirds lose to the Oklahoma RedHawks, 10-7 in front of 18,620 fans.
  AutoZone Park was the site of the 2016 Triple-A National Championship Game in which the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, champions of the International League, defeated the PCL-champion El Paso Chihuahuas 3–1 before a crowd of 9,471 people on September 20. The stadium once again hosted the championship game on September 17, 2019, in which the PCL's Sacramento River Cats defeated the Columbus Clippers 4-0 with 9,123 on hand.
caption: The park's main entrance
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