Knights Castle

Knights Stadium (A.K.A. Knights Castle)
Home of the Charlotte Knights

Opened: 1990
Seating Capacity: 10,002
Location: Deerfield Drive a mile south of Gold Hill Road off of Interstate 77 Exit 88 in Fort Mill, York County, South Carolina
Games seen in Database Era: 41 between August 13, 2007 and September 2, 2013
Latitude: 35.052215 N
Longitude: 80.954652 W
Distance from my house point-to-point (as the crow flies): 83.69 miles
Driving time from my house: 2 hours (120 minutes)




Charlotte, the largest city of the Carolinas, has had a long history of professional baseball. Most of Charlotte's baseball history has been in the Class AA Southern League and its predecessors. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Charlotte's growth was able to land a NBA and NFL team with baseball moving up to AAA, although still short of the major league level.

But to many Charlotte residents, they do not really have a professional baseball team. That is because after the 1988 season, the team left Charlotte for Fort Mill about 15 miles south of the downtown area (also known as Uptown Charlotte). Not only was the team representing Charlotte not in Charlotte, they were not in North Carolina either! Most likely new Knights owner George Shinn (who further angered Charlotte fans several years later with a series of mistakes that led to the moving of the Hornets NBA team to New Orleans) found the South Carolina land in a then-vacant lot off Interstate 77 to be much cheaper than building in Charlotte. But after five years in temporary facilities due to a 1985 burning of Crockett Park's old wooden grandstand, the opening of Knights Castle (also the name of the temporary park, and the Knights now call this stadium a Stadium officially rather than a Castle) in 1990 proved to be a boost for team support in the 1990s. The new stadium was much bigger than Crockett Park, as the Knights were able to upgrade to AAA in 1993 with MLB expansion. Many of the Knights' players early in their AAA history became successful stars for the Cleveland Indians' better teams in the late 1990s. The Knights however have not had as much success in producing stars for their current MLB affiliate (the Chicago White Sox).

Most importantly as far as minor league ownership is concerned, the Knights have not stayed strong in attendance. The Knights went from averaging well over 5,000 fans in the 1990s to under 4,000 today when most of their International League counterparts have been improving. Unfortunately for the Knights, Knights Castle was built just before the ballpark craze, and is viewed more like Capital City Stadium of Columbia than Joe Riley Park of Charleston. Once the AAA novelty wore off, fans from Charlotte decided that South Carolina was not worth their time and stopped going. On Sunday afternoons and early week games, the Knights frequently draw less than 2,000, less than many Class A teams. The Knights still draw a good community support from the York County communities of Fort Mill and Rock Hill. But that is not good enough of a market for AAA baseball.

And as a result, Knights Stadium will go the same route as Capital City Stadium, and will likely be no more within a couple of years. Last September the Knights began construction near the NFL Panthers' stadium in downtown Charlotte, with the park scheduled to open next April. You can be sure that when that park opens the Knights will do everything to milk money from their fans. So the time to enjoy the Knights is right now. That is particularly true if you are a baseball fan living in South Carolina. Fort Mill may be a bleh location, but you will get a cheaper experience for the same level of baseball than you likely will in Uptown next year.

Seating Capacity: B-
Knights Castle no doubt has enough seats. Except for games on the 4th of July weekend, there is never any trouble getting tickets. For a game between Sunday and Wednesday, the stadium is always well under half full. But while it is big enough for what it has, it is not unusually big for AAA baseball. In fact, Knights Stadium in official capacity is the eighth smallest among the 30 AAA stadiums. Many stadiums slightly bigger however count berm seating while the Knights do not, so the Knights are probably closer to the middle of the pack. Seating capacity is definitely not this stadium's weakness especially considering the percentage of capacity filled. But it is not quite a strength either.

Quality of Seats: B+
Unlike most recent baseball stadiums which rely too much on outfield seating (as Carolina Stadium does) and  a small grandstand behind the plate, Knights Stadium has plenty of infield seating. You are never too far from home plate at a Knights game, with only a small number of seats past the dugouts down the foul lines. Most of the 10,002 seats are behind the infield, which requires an upper deck (something very few minor league stadiums now have). The result however is that with a large amount of foul territory, you are never close to the field. It's not what one would call an "intimate park". But many of the intimate parks are actually a long way from the plate. You may feel a bit removed from the field at Knights Stadium, and the poles supporting the backstop net can be a bit obtrusive depending on where you sit. But all seats are colorful chairback seats with a good view of the action at home plate. And ultimately that is what makes a good seat.

Attractiveness/Uniqueness: D+
The stadium itself is very colorful, with aisle seats and upper deck seats painted different colors from the rest of its surrounding seats. But the problem with the Fort Mill location is that there is nothing in the ballpark's setting to make it stand out. It is a pleasant enough view, with a big grass hill with a house on the top of it beyond the outfield. But otherwise this is mostly a lot off the Interstate in exurban Charlotte. It's not too exciting, although there are some attractive elements to the stadium. It just lacks a great setting that many of the Knights' urban counterparts in the International League have.

Concessions: B
You have the usual ballpark fare at the main concessions, which is a decent but not great selection. Then you also have a number of vendors along the concourse, which includes both Subway and Donato's Pizza. And if that is not enough, you can also on most nights stop in the upper deck at the Home Run Cafe, a full service restaurant that looks out onto the field from above the main press box. It also is a great place to go if you need air conditioning while still watching the game. The food here is good while not great, and the prices are a bit high but not too high. Overall, the concessions here are pretty good, but not over the top so. And being just plain good gets you a B in this category.

Parking: C
Getting into the Knights Stadium off the Interstate is pretty easy. There are signs guiding you around Gold Hill and Deerfield Drive to the stadium, and you can be parked after pulling off the Interstate in a matter of minutes. There are always plenty of spaces, so finding a spot even for a weekend game is never hard. Parking costs $4, higher than I would like but not unusually bad for being one level away from Major League Baseball. And there are two lines to collect parking fees at Knights Stadium, which is better than at some stadiums like Capital City Stadium where collecting parking fees leads to long lines of cars.

But while it is easy in, it is not easy out. Even when there are scores of empty seats, leaving the parking lot can be a problem. This is because there is limited access to Gold Hill Road and subsequently Interstate 77 (until a few years ago Deerfield Drive dead ended just past the stadium). Since few people live near Gold Hill Road and this section of Fort Mill, nearly all fans are heading to I-77 after the game. And they all have to turn left onto Gold Hill Road to get there. It is definitely a mess. The interstate location works for getting to the game, but not so much departing it.

Lighting: C+
The lighting usually works well here. But sometimes there can be problems, sometimes systemic (more on that later). But overall, the lighting generally is good. You can get okay pictures at night, and visibility is not a problem. But that is sort of to be expected at this level, so there is nothing particularly strong here in this category.

Fans: C
This is Minor League Baseball, which is not exactly the home of the best fans in sports. But Knights fans are not too bad, mainly because casual fans don't come here. The regular diehards that do come here don't make much noise, and the stadium still lacks a good atmosphere. Unless the Uh Huh Guy shows up from the other side of Charlotte, there aren't usually vocal supporters of the Knights. With mostly empty seats and a mostly apathetic crowd, the Knights do not have a good atmosphere. But they do not have a bad one either as many minor league parks (like Charleston) do. You can thank a more sensible approach to marketing by the Knights staff for that.

Other stuff: C+
The stadium is highly functional and professionally maintained. Yet it is a bit too creaky for a stadium only 23 years old, hence another reason for the team wanting to move. The scoreboard (in particular the video board) has been a weakness for many years in center field, but the necessary repairs have been made to keep it going. Keeping the light stanchions on has been a problem, as noted by this review by Baseball Pilgrimages. While that review is a bit out of date, I have seen that as a problem on a small scale here. By AAA standards, the park is not very modern. But it is modern enough, and has a good professional feel to it without being overbearingly so (except in the upper deck, which for low attended games is void of services). Like many stadiums, it works. The seats and the stadium are always pretty clean, and it can feel like a big-time park when everything goes right (the stadium was designed to be expandable as a temporary facility for a MLB team).

Summary: The Knights Stadium is the Knights Castle. It is not a great stadium, but I have never understood the contempt for it. Aside from this review by Charlie O'Reilly, most other reviews of the stadium have been negative. Sure, the stadium is in Fort Mill. It may have been constructed on the cheap. But it means for a cheaper experience for you, the fan! And what you will get is high quality minor league baseball at its best. If the game is what matters to you, Knights Stadium is a great place to go. It may not be the best park out there, but it is good enough. And good enough needs to be simply that. Unfortunately, as the image in this picture becomes closer to a complete stadium, this stadium like Capital City Stadium will be no more. Charlotte will still get a place to see minor league baseball, and more fans from the north side of Metrolina will get a chance to see it. In abandoning its fan base in Fort Mill and Rock Hill, the Knights hope to gain more fans throughout the Charlotte area. It will likely work, but you never know when the Sports Bubble will burst. The Knights will continue to be around, but you will probably have to pay more to see them in "Uptown". And that is a shame.

Overall GPA: 2.3625