Al Lang Stadium

Al Lang Stadium

Al Lang Stadium in 2015
Former names	Florida Power Park, Progress Energy Park
Location	180 2nd Avenue SE St. Petersburg, Florida 33701
Coordinates	27°46′05″N 82°37′59″W / 27.7681°N 82.6331°W / 27.7681; -82.6331Coordinates: 27°46′05″N 82°37′59″W / 27.7681°N 82.6331°W / 27.7681; -82.6331
Owner	City of St. Petersburg
Operator	Big 3 Entertainment
Capacity	7,227
Field size	110 x 75yd
Surface	Grass
Construction
Opened	1947
Renovated	1976, 1996, 2015
Construction cost	$300,000 (original)
Tenants
New York Yankees (MLB) (spring training) (1947–1950, 1952–1961) St. Louis Cardinals (MLB) (spring training) (1947–1997) St. Petersburg Saints (FIL/FSL) (1947–1965) New York Giants (MLB) (spring training) (1951) New York Mets (MLB) (spring training) (1962–1987) St. Petersburg Pelicans (SPBA) (1989–1990) St. Petersburg Cardinals (FSL) (1965–1997) Baltimore Orioles (MLB) (spring training) (1991–1995) St. Petersburg Devil Rays (FSL) (1998–2000) Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Rays (MLB) (spring training) (1998–2008) Tampa Bay Rowdies (USL) (2011–present)

Al Lang Stadium is a 7,500-seat sports stadium in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida that is the current home pitch of the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the United Soccer League (USL). It was built in 1947 and was used almost exclusively as a baseball park for over 60 years. Al Lang Stadium was reconstructed in 1976, and was renovated again before the Tampa Bay Devil Rays began using it as their first spring training venue in 1998. The Devil Rays / Rays were the last of a long series of Major League Baseball clubs to conduct spring training and host an affiliated minor league team at Al Lang Stadium. Before the Rays, tenants included the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, and the Baltimore Orioles, amongst others. The stadium hosted its last spring training game in 2008 and was the site of occasional amateur and exhibition baseball for the next several years.

Since the Tampa Bay Rowdies became the primary tenant in 2011, Al Lang Stadium has been incrementally modified for use as a soccer venue. Since October 2014, an agreement between the club and the city of St. Petersburg has made the stadium a soccer-only facility, and the Rowdies' ownership conducted an extensive renovation in early 2015.

The stadium is named in honor of Al Lang, a former mayor of St. Petersburg who was instrumental in bringing minor league and spring training baseball to the city in the early 20th century.

Professional baseball grew throughout the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century, and clubs sought additional facilities to accommodate their spring training. Al Lang, a businessman in St. Petersburg, Florida, saw a huge potential to attract northeastern teams to his city to take advantage of the warm weather during the early months of the year. Lang and city officials created an incentives package that covered teams' travel expenses and other amenities, which drew in the city's first spring training tenant, the St. Louis Browns, in 1914. The club trained at Coffee Pot Park, a small ballpark located beside Coffee Pot bayou about a mile north of the current site of Al Lang Stadium. Subsequently, other Major League Baseball clubs such as the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees came to St. Petersburg for spring training, and Lang continued promoting the city when he was elected Mayor of St. Petersburg in 1916. After his term, Lang devoted his life to building a successful connection between Florida and baseball, and was instrumental in marketing St. Petersburg as a desirable sports site.