Innovative Field (originally known as Frontier Field) is a baseball stadium at One Morrie Silver Way in downtown Rochester, New York. It has been the home of the Rochester Red Wings of the International League since 1997. The park opened in 1996, replacing Silver Stadium in northern Rochester, which had been home to professional baseball in Rochester since 1929. Although the stadium was built for baseball, Innovative Field has had several tenants in numerous sports, including the Rochester Raging Rhinos of the United Soccer Leagues from 1996 to 2005, and the Rochester Rattlers of Major League Lacrosse from 2001 to 2002. The ballpark seats 10,840 spectators for baseball.[4]
Rochester-based telecommunications company Frontier Telephone of Rochester held the naming rights to the ballpark from its opening in 1996 until the 2022 baseball offseason. Originally in December 2015 agreement was reached to maintain the name for a further ten years,[5] however, on October 24, 2022, a new naming rights agreement was reached with Innovative Solutions, a Henrietta-based IT services company at the request of both Innovative and Frontier who was looking to cut back on sponsorship costs after the company filed for bankruptcy in 2020, changing the name of the stadium to Innovative Field pending final approval.[6]
History
Ground was broken on the stadium in November 1994. The ballpark, designed by Ellerbe Becket, opened on July 11, 1996. Although it was always intended to be primarily a baseball facility, it was constructed to be able to accommodate the Rochester Rhinos soccer team as well. The Red Wings moved from Silver Stadium to Frontier Field at the conclusion of the 1996 International League season.
After the Rhinos left the stadium for PAETEC Park in 2005, the Rochester Red Wings became the sole full-time tenant. As a result, the Wings made upgrades to the park to make the stadium a better baseball facility. The first notable upgrade, the installation of a new 24-foot (7.3 m) by 32-foot (9.8 m) video scoreboard in left field, was completed in time for the 2010 season. Originally, a new grass turf was to be installed following the 2006 season to replace the grass that has been beat up over the years from extensive use in baseball, soccer, and lacrosse.[10] No such replacement was made for 2007, but work commenced following that season and a new grass surface with an improved drainage system was installed prior to the 2008 season.[11]
Faced with a requirement of major renovations to PNC Field, the New York Yankees' Triple-A affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, chose to temporarily relocate their operations to Frontier Field for 2012 to allow renovations to their stadium to be completed in one season rather than being spread over two to three years. The team played half its games in Rochester, sharing the stadium with the Red Wings.[12][13] While based in Rochester the team was branded as the Empire State Yankees.
In 2020, with the Triple-A baseball season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Frontier Field hosted the Toronto Blue Jays taxi squad while the Blue Jays played at Sahlen Field in Buffalo after the government of Canada denied them permission to play at Rogers Centre for the 2020 MLB season due to pandemic restrictions.[14][15]
Events
Top: Summertime Red Wings Baseball, Bottom: Wintertime RIT Tigers men's ice hockey during the 2013 Frozen Frontier event
Innovative Field hosted the Triple-A All-Star Game on July 12, 2000, with a sellout crowd of 12,810 on hand.[16] The Pacific Coast League All-Stars defeated the International League All-Stars, 8–2. Rochester's Javier De La Hoya was selected as the IL MVP and Pitcher of the Game.[17]
On July 10, 2005 Bryan Adams and Def Leppard held a concert at the facility. The stadium is the annual site of PXY Summer Jam.
The largest crowd to witness a baseball game at the stadium was when the Red Wings faced their then parent organization, the Baltimore Orioles, in an exhibition game attended by 13,723 people on July 10, 1997.[22]
In the 1998 Nike Cup team USA played vs. Russia in front of 13,125 in a 4–0 win. In that game, Mia Hamm became the first American, male or female, to reach the milestone of 100 international goals. Also in that tournament Brazil faced off vs Mexico at Frontier Field where Brazil dominated, winning, 11–0.
The largest crowd for any event in Innovative Field history was on September 25, 2004, when the United States Women's National Soccer Team played an International Friendly vs Iceland. USA won the game 4–3, in front of 14,870 fans.
The first women's professional club soccer game to be played at Innovative Field was a National Women's Soccer League fixture between the Western New York Flash and Seattle Reign FC on July 9, 2016, which had been moved from Rochester Community Sports Complex Stadium. The selection of Frontier Field, and the decision to use an undersized, 58-yard-wide (53 m) field (under the 70-yard (64 m) minimum width set by the league), was heavily criticized by soccer players and coaches.[23][24]
