Glacier Bank Park – page 2

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The Design

Despite the fact that Flathead Field isn’t laid out like other minor league ballparks, it functions perfectly.

Because of the thought that went into the best way to tackle the terrain before any of the structures had been designed, fans can walk through the gates onto the level of the main concourse. They then walk down to their seats in the main seating bowl. Fans like this arrangement because they can keep an eye on the action while walking to the restrooms or concessions — a so-called “open concourse.”

The design goes beyond being functional. As we shall see, the choice of building materials was also inspired.

This is not a 360-degree concourse, as there is no walkway or bleachers beyond the outfield walls. The concourse at the rear of the seating bowl is extra wide, though.

Let’s take a stroll around that concourse, starting at the right-field foul pole.

For the 2022 season, there was a a building under construction here. That will be the visitor’s clubhouse, storage areas as well as locker rooms for umpires — including the new requirement for affiliated parks to have a dressing room for female umps.

There is a beautiful berm area all the way down the first-base line that was being completed as the 2022 season was coming to a close (see photo). It is terraced, using those pesky boulders to define the different levels. Again, a great — and “green” — use of the boulders uncovered during the excavation.

The concourse is extremely wide in this area, allowing for future programming if the team desires (see below). This is also where a very nice wooden play area for kids is located.

Behind first base, the concourse is covered by the upper-level suites above. The concession stands and restrooms are part of this structure.

There are actually three separate structures making up the ballpark. They are connected only by patios on the upper level. On the street level, there are huge gaps between the buildings, allowing fans entering through the main gates to get to the seating bowl.

The center building directly behind home plate contains the merchandise store, as well as concessions and a bar.

The structure behind third base contains the same kinds of services as on the first-base side.

Toward the left-field foul pole is a wide area where food trucks can park. Here are picnic tables as well. Beyond the last section of seats is a grass-covered berm where kids can run around and families can sit on a blanket and watch the action.

I asked Marty if this berm might be terraced some day like the one down the first-base line. He said no, because as more and more fans start attending games, the Range Riders will look to construct permanent seats here by extending the seating bowl.

The building under construction near the left-field foul pole is the Logan Health (a well-known name in this part of Montana) Training Facility. Not only will this house one of the finest home clubhouses below the Major League level, it will have workout and weight facilities and batting tunnels for the players.

“Logan Health is a major partner with the team and will use (the building) not only for helping our players, but training and rehabbing some of their patients,” explains Marty.

He added that if an affiliated Minor League franchise wanted to relocate to Flathead Field someday, the temporary home bullpen down the third-base line could be moved into the this building, as there will be five garage-door-type openings on the field level, and pitchers could warm up just inside this structure.

As nice as the main level is, the upper level is even better. The structure behind first base contains 10 luxury suites as well as space for the print media and production of sound and video. All along the hallway are stunning paintings done by local artist — and noted rodeo cowboy — Bradley Chance Hays. See below.

The upper level structure behind home plate contains six suites, and they are all extremely nice.

The building behind third base has an upper level with broadcast booths and a large unfinished space for a restaurant. The Kellys envision that the eatery would be open even when there is no baseball going on. Remember, it will be within a mixed-use development. The patio on the field side of the restaurant could also hold ticketed seats for games.

The inspiration for the restaurant came from Arlington, Texas. “I remember 30 years ago when the Texas Rangers opened in Arlington and they had the TGI Fridays out there in right field,” recalls Marty. “I would go there just to sit and have a burger at lunchtime and watch them cut the grass.” Me, too.

Of course, diners here won’t be watching any mowing, as the entire playing surface is artificial. It comes from a company in Daniel Island, South Carolina called SPRINTURF. Everything on the playing surface is artificial — including the pitcher’s mound.

The seats in the seating bowl are also special. “We spent a lot of time on seats in general,” says Chris. “We looked at eight different companies’ seats and sat in them. We’re fans of sports, too, and we’ve sat in a lot of seats. We’re really happy that we ended up being able to work with Irwin Seating out of Michigan.” He adds that the seats are wider than you’ll typically find at sports facilities.

Chris notes that “Even with the time crunch and supply-chain issues, we really went out of our way to use American-made products as much as we could. You might pay a premium upfront, but I think in the long run, you probably end up with a better ROI.”

Another American product is at the top of the light standards: Qualite Sports Lights of Hillsdale, Michigan. I’ve never seen lights like these before. They look like bunches of horizontal fluorescent light tubes, but in reality are rows of small controllable LEDs that can be turned on and off instantly, and can even be dimmed. Qualite calls these Q-LED, and they are much more energy efficient than earlier generations of LED stadium lights.

A lot of thought went into the outfield dimensions and wall heights. Marty notes that the openings in the main level of the structure “create a little bit of a wind tunnel going down both the right field line and left field line.” To compensate for this, the wall in right field is 16-feet tall rather than 8 feet the rest of the away around — except the batter’s eye in dead center, which is 406 feet from home … and it’s no coincidence that 406 is the area code for Montana.

“It’s a true ballpark. It’s a true test to the ballplayers. It’s not a gimmicky ballpark. Both pitchers and hitters can be successful in it,” says Marty.

Further, the wall in right field is a little deeper than in left field because a football field can fit running parallel to the first-base line. Even more reason to have artificial turf.

So even though there was a mad scramble to design and build Flathead Field, the final product would appear to be amazingly well-thought-out.

The only complaint one can make about the way the elements are arranged is that the merchandise store doesn’t have an entrance on the outer perimeter of the ballpark, which is the way most parks are designed these days. This is so the store can be open when there is no game going on.

However, if the Range Riders intend to leave the gates open on non-game days, then this isn’t an issue. After all, people will be coming and going when the restaurant is open anyway.

“We struggled with what the design was going to be on these two (upper-level) media centers,” admits Marty. “The architects picked out some different types of products, but we didn’t like them. Finally in the downtowns of Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls we noticed a barnwood theme. I thought that barnwood ties back to that northwest Montana feel.”

Fans will notice barnwood walls as they enter restrooms and on the outside of the media centers on the upper level. “And similarly, there’s a corrugated rust-colored steel siding” on those buildings, he added. It is a tremendous look.

And if you look upward at the underneath of the upper level’s roof, you’ll see beautiful exposed wood (below right). I’ve seen this sort of look at stadiums in the Pacific Northwest, and it fits in well here in Flathead County, too.

You might be a little surprised about the lack of size of the videoboard, just beyond the leftfield wall (above left). The Daktronics screen is certainly state-of-the-art when it comes to resolution and brightness, but its size might be smaller than you would expect in a new ballpark. “We were very cautious about what size we went with because we wanted it to stay below the tree line (just beyond the board),” Chris notes. “We obviously wanted a great video for the fan experience, but we didn’t want it to overpower the view. We wanted the vista to be the main thing that people come in here to look at.”

As architect Shane Jacobs points out, the “early analysis of the project site made capturing the views of the surrounding mountains an obvious design move.” The fact that the site is on the top of a hill makes it easier to see the massive peaks to the east, north and west.

Honestly, it’s hard to take your eyes off of the mountains while you’re attending a game at Flathead Field.

That’s the point.

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The Essentials

Most pro baseball franchises spend their offseasons toiling away at implementing marketing campaigns to promote ticket and merchandise sales. The Range Riders didn’t have that luxury. “To be fair, we literally worked all winter and all spring just to open on June 14,” says Chris. “We never had a chance to do any marketing at all this year.”

So you might suspect your gameday experience at Flathead Field would be lacking. You’d be wrong.

Let’s look at what it’s like to attend a game here.

First, the costs are on the high side, While parking is only $5, the tickets will set you back if you want to be close to the field. The first three rows in the seating bowl are called Dugout Club, and they cost $40. All of these seats have padded lower sections. The next three rows are called Infield Reserve, and they cost $30. All of the rest of the chairback seats are $17.50.

General admission tickets are a reasonable $10, but during the team’s inaugural season, only 100 GA tickets were sold at each game.

Are these ticket prices high? When you consider that this is a high-cost area to start with, where hotel rooms, meals, rental cars, etc. are much higher than elsewhere, perhaps these costs aren’t so surprising after all. Plus, the land and ballpark were all privately funded — so taxpayers didn’t pay for anything here — so these entrepreneurs deserve to recapture some of their investment.

I’m happy to note that there aren’t any zany attempts to charge higher prices on the day of the game or because it’s a Friday or Saturday.

The concession prices, though, are very reasonable — $5 Nathan’s hotdogs, $4 nachos, $2 popcorn, $4 fountain drinks, $6 beer. However, there is a noticeable lack of variety on the menu. Everything is very straightforward with no madcap toppings for hot dogs.

The main reason for this is that the team is operating its own “food & beverage” rather than farming it out to a national food-service vendor. “It just gives us more control,” says Marty. “We wanted to experience the whole program — the whole ballpark, the whole team experience. When the season ends, we’ll sit down and catch our breath and start thinking about next year. Food and beverage is definitely one of the top things.

“It will definitely be a much broader menu next year.”

My favorite menu item was the bratwurst ($9 with onions, peppers and sauerkraut), which is manufactured by Redneck Sausage, another Kalispell company represented at this park. It was one of the best brats I’ve ever had. See shot below.

And if you’re a Coke fan, you’re in luck. There’s no Pepsi here — but there is Dr Pepper in addition to the Coke products.

I mentioned there is space down the left-field line for a food truck, and one was positioned there on one of the days I was present. The truck was operated by Arn’s BBQ, and they offered really flavorful, moist brisket (a full half a pound for $18 or on a sandwich for $16), the way we Texans like it. See the photo of Arn showing off a perfectly rubbed-and-smoked brisket above. They also serve made-from-scratch peach cobbler ($6) which is not only delicious, but somehow is gluten-free. If their truck is present when you attend a game here, you definitely need to try their food.

So while the food offerings might be limited, the variety of merchandise items is wonderful. Playing off of the team’s two mascots, the caps and shirts are both striking and different than you typically see around pro baseball. “Rifle green, our predominant color, has been a really hot seller for us,” notes Leo Kelly, Director of Sales & Marketing. I certainly thought so, as I bought a fitted cap in rifle green for $34. It also comes in red and black. They were just the beginning in caps. Adjustable caps for adults were $27, while black-and-white “trucker” style caps were $30. Flex caps in camo were also $30.

Replica jersey tops were $70, and they were available in green and in camo. Adult t-shirts were $30. Really sharp Holloway and Champion hooded jackets were in red and greed for $48.

For women, there were VimHue brand-name caps for $34, and green or gray tank tops for $25.

For kids, they had camo t-shirts for $22 and white tees were $15.

Speaking of kids, they love the two mascots. Fans voted for the name of the mountain goat, choosing Cliff. Huck, short for Huckleberry, is a grizzly bear. They are shown at the top of this section, signing autographs for kids following a game.

And despite the fact that all offseason efforts were focused on completing the ballpark in time and not on developing a robust gameday experience, it’s fun to attend a Range Riders game. Nice, not overblown events between innings, and things for kids to do. I like their approach.

One last thing: this is a ballpark where cash is accepted for purchases. When was the last time you experienced that at a pro-sports contest? “Our fans wanted it that way,” says Leo.

What a thought — doing what the fans want rather than what is convenient for the team!

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Summary

Ayron Sequeira handles public-relations and media for the Range Riders. She showed a lot of insight in pointing out that “the Kelly family is incredibly passionate about baseball, and they love Flathead Valley. And you know you can throw a lot of money at something, but it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t have heart. And there is a lot of heart here.”

Marty Kelly was clear that he wanted to see what it’s like to build and pay for a comprehensive ballpark, while overseeing all of the operations as well.

And in independent ball, that means signing the players, too, because the Major League teams don’t supply the players like they do in affiliated ball. Marty feels strongly that when he can show a prospective player both the high quality of the facility and the remarkable quality of life in this valley, he’ll be able to stock a roster with, well, quality players.

Flathead Field has “everything you could ask for,” said 3B Dean Miller of the Range Riders. “And the fans bring energy every day. The only bad part is when you go on the road and have to play anywhere else.”

Watching a game at Flathead Field not only allows you to watch competitive baseball at reasonable prices in a comfortable facility, it also allows you to gaze at the peaks in the distance.

It’s hard to imagine that this plane was still being designed and built as it soared into the heavens.

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