Golden Park gets a new name as Columbus baseball stadium goes through $50M renovations
Two months after the selective demolition of parts of the 98-year-old Golden Park began, officials and fans gathered Tuesday at the historic stadium for the ceremonial groundbreaking to celebrate the next step in the $50 million renovation that will bring professional baseball back to Columbus for the first time in 17 years.
But when the Atlanta Braves move their Double-A affiliate from Mississippi to Columbus for the 2025 season, the stadium won’t be named Golden Park.
It will be Synovus Park instead.
Synovus, the Columbus-based banking and financial services company, has bought the naming rights for the city-owned baseball stadium.
Kevin Blair, the Synovus CEO, expects the renovation to create “the next landmark in the city of Columbus.”
It will boost community spirit, he said, and help “bring us together,” making Columbus “a better place to live, work and raise a family.”
The amount of money and the length of the agreement weren’t disclosed. The Ledger-Enquirer didn’t reach a Synovus official to answer those questions before publication.
Regardless, the leaders of this project promise the stadium will provide a new experience along with the new name.
In fact, New York-based Diamond Baseball Holdings CEO Peter Freund, whose company owns and operates 34 minor league baseball teams, including all of the Atlanta Braves affiliates, vowed to produce a “world-class experience” here.
“We strive for perfection,” he said Tuesday. “We want this to be the best Double-A park in minor league baseball, and we’re well on our way.”
Mississippi Braves General Manager Pete Laven, who was appointed in March as general manager of the yet-to-be-named Columbus team, praised city and community leaders for welcoming him to the Chattahoochee Valley.
“What a crowd,” Laven told the folks attending the ceremony. “This is a baseball town.”
It’s a baseball town that saw Hall of Famers such as Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Columbus native Frank Thomas play at Golden Park. And it’s a baseball town that produced state champions this year in baseball (Brookstone) and softball (Northside), whose players Laven recognized during the ceremony.
City manager Isaiah Hugley displayed a part of that history as he held up a baseball signed by Aaron. Then he declared this day will go down in history as a great one for Columbus.
“Welcome home, baseball,” he said. “Welcome, Double-A Braves baseball.”
The renovation project will “meld the history with modern amenities,” Laven said.
Combining the prolific public-private partnership in Columbus with the excellent brand name of an Atlanta Braves affiliate, this project’s “firepower” will elevate the fan experience, he said.
Laven also promised the Braves will stock the roster not only with high-quality players but also high-character people who will be “great examples to the community on and off the field.”
And the community will benefit from this publicly-funded $50 million renovation beyond the baseball and the season, officials have predicted, speculating that it could spark as much as $350 million in private investment with a mixed-use development around the stadium at South Commons, including hotels, restaurants, stores, offices and residences.
That’s why Mayor Skip Henderson said he is confident the city will have “a long partnership” with Diamond Baseball Holdings and the Atlanta Braves.
This story was originally published June 11, 2024 at 8:14 PM.
