Chattanooga Lookouts AT&T Field Stadium Now 20-Years-Old

Chattanooga-(WDEF-TV) After playing at Engel Stadium for nearly 70 years, the Chattanooga Lookouts moved to AT&T Field in 2000. So this year marks the 20th year of the team’s downtown stadium, and believe it or not, it’s now historic by Southern League standards.

When AT&T Field was built, it was downtown or bust.

Said Lookouts General Manager Rich Mozingo:”Frank Burke owned the team at the time. He was very adamant about being right in the middle of downtown in a new ballpark. This was the only spot they ever looked at. Downtown really wasn’t the downtown we have today. It wasn’t the bustling place we have today, so I think people were excited. I know shop owners were excited for just more to be going on downtown, especially at night time hours.”

Of course there have been some changes over the years. From the video board to the netting.

Said Mozingo:”We re-netted about two years ago to cover all the seats on the first base or third base side. Now this off-season we came back and every lower box seat is behind net now.”

Mozingo loves one aspect of the park they we really don’t see.

Said Mozingo:”All of our concession stands have a hallway in between them, so food service doesn’t have to happen in our main concourse where the public is. I just thought that was a super cool element when it was built.”

As far as the playing field, it’s typical for the minor leagues with one exception.

Said Mozingo:”The one thing we do have here is a 16 foot wall all the way around. While the numbers are about the same down the line and center field, it’s still a long home run if it’s so far up in the air. Most fences in the league like this are usually eight feet tall.”
AT&T Field may not be showing its age, but….

Said Mozingo:”We are the oldest ballpark in the Southern League right now. Us and the club up in Sevierville. Up in Knoxville. The Smokies. They were both built in the same year.”

Reporter:”That’s crazy to think in 20 years. What does that kind of tell you about the sport maybe?”

Said Mozingo:”Well I think the sport has changed a lot. It’s much more about the venue. It’s more much about the amenities inside a venue now than it used to be. When this ballpark was built, it was mostly about baseball. This was built for baseball. There’s going to be a need and a need for us to do something pretty dramatically in the not to distant future. What that’s going to look like, and how it’s going to shape out, we don’t really know right now.”