page_title: Sahlen Field
section_title: Alterations
hierarchical_section_title: Sahlen Field / History / Alterations
caption_attribution_description: English: Coca-Cola Field HD Scoreboard In Buffalo, NY
context_page_description: Sahlen Field is a baseball park in Buffalo, New York. Originally known as Pilot Field, the venue has since been named Downtown Ballpark, North AmeriCare Park, Dunn Tire Park, and Coca-Cola Field. The home of the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons of the International League, it opened on April 14, 1988 and can seat up to 16,600 people, making it the highest-capacity Triple-A ballpark in the United States. It replaced the Bisons' former home, War Memorial Stadium, where the team played from 1979 to 1987.
  The stadium was the first retro-classic ballpark built in the world, and was designed with plans for Major League Baseball expansion. Buffalo had not had an MLB team since the Buffalo Blues played for the Federal League in 1915. However, Bisons owner Robert E. Rich Jr. was unsuccessful in his efforts to bring an MLB franchise to the stadium between 1988 and 1994. Due to travel restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the Toronto Blue Jays are currently playing their 2020 home games at Sahlen Field.
  Sahlen Field was also home to the Buffalo Nighthawks of the Ladies Professional Baseball League in 1998 and the Empire State Yankees in 2012.
context_section_description: Prior to the 1990 season, 1,400 bleacher seats and a standing-room only area within the third-base mezzanine were added at a cost of $1.34 million, increasing the stadium's capacity to 21,050.
  In September 1990, Robert E. Rich Jr. attempted to buy the Montreal Expos for $100 million and move the team to Buffalo, but owner Charles Bronfman declined his offer. That same month, Rich Jr. and his investment group, which included Larry King, presented their bid for a Buffalo expansion franchise to the National League Expansion Committee. However, by February 1991 the entry fee and startup capital needed for securing a Major League Baseball expansion franchise had skyrocketed to $140 million, and Rich Jr. declined the chance to secure additional investors. Buffalo was one of six finalists for the 1993 Major League Baseball expansion, but franchises were awarded to the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins in June 1991.
  In their fourth year at the venue, the Buffalo Bisons once again broke the all-time record for Minor League Baseball attendance by drawing 1,240,951 fans during the 1991 season.
  In June 1992, Robert E. Rich Jr. attempted to buy the San Francisco Giants and move the team to Buffalo, but owner Bob Lurie declined his offer. The proposed name for the team would have been the New York Giants of Buffalo, as the franchise had previously played as the New York Giants from 1885 to 1957 in New York City. That same month, the City of Buffalo chose to exercise an escape clause and buy back $24.2 million in federal bonds they had earmarked for expanding the venue to accommodate Major League Baseball.
  In July 1994, Robert E. Rich Jr. notified the Major League Baseball Expansion Committee that he was interested in pursuing a Buffalo expansion franchise. However, he would retract this notification the following month after the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike commenced. Buffalo was withdrawn as a candidate for the 1998 Major League Baseball expansion, and franchises were awarded to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays in March 1995.
  The Cleveland Indians replaced the Pittsburgh Pirates as Major League Baseball affiliate of the Buffalo Bisons prior to the 1995 season.
  For the 1996 season, a new outfield fence was erected at the venue at a cost of $50,000 so the baseball field mirrored the dimensions of Jacobs Field. Left-center field was reduced from 384 feet to 371 feet, center field was reduced from 410 feet to 404 feet, right-center field was reduced from 384 feet to 367 feet, and the height of the center field fence was reduced from 15 feet to 8 feet. This change allowed the Cleveland Indians to better evaluate their prospects, while also making the park more hitter-friendly.
  In wake of the American Association disbanding following the 1997 season, the Buffalo Bisons joined the International League in 1998. The addition of regional rivalries allowed for the creation of the Thruway Cup, an annual competition between the Buffalo Bisons, Rochester Red Wings and Syracuse SkyChiefs.
  The venue was home to the Buffalo Nighthawks of the Ladies Professional Baseball League before the league shut down mid-season in July 1998. The Nighthawks were in first place with an 11–5 record when the league folded, and were declared Eastern Division champions. 
  The park's original four-color dot matrix scoreboard in center field was retrofitted with a 38' wide by 19' tall Daktronics LED video screen in 1999 at a cost of $1.2 million.
  The 20-year lease between the Buffalo Bisons and City of Buffalo for use of the venue was renegotiated in January 2003, with the addition of funding from Erie County.
  Prior to the 2004 season, $5 million in renovations to the venue were completed, including removal of the stadium's right field bleachers and construction of a four-tier Party Deck in its place. The removal of the bleachers decreased the stadium capacity to 18,025.
  The 20-year lease between the Buffalo Bisons and City of Buffalo for use of the venue expired following the 2008 season, and the city began offering year-to-year leases to the 
caption: The center field scoreboard in July 2015
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "SONY DSC", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "NEX-3", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "NEX-3 Ver.05", "Image DateTime": "2015:07:03 19:16:43", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "376", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 6, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "47784", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "16716", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "11", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "320", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "320", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:07:03 19:16:43", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:07:03 19:16:43", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "33/4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "497/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "55", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2576", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "43618", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "82", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[18, 55, 7/2, 28/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "E 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS"}