Potter County Memorial Stadium

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Potter County Memorial Stadium
Dilla Villa
Location	3300 E. 3rd Street Amarillo, Texas 79104
Broke ground	September 28, 1948
Opened	May 12, 1949
Renovated	October 11, 2005
Owner	Potter County
Operator	Amarillo Dillas
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	$250,000 USD
Tenants	Amarillo Dillas (ULB) (2006–present)
Capacity	8,500 (2008)
Field dimensions	Left Field: 355 ft Deep Left-Center: 365 ft Center Field: 429 ft Deep Right-Center: 365 ft Right Field: 355 ft

Potter County Memorial Stadium is a baseball-only stadium in Amarillo, Texas. It is the home field of the Amarillo Dillas minor league baseball team of United League Baseball. It broke ground in 1948, and opened in 1949. It is nicknamed Dilla Villa, dating back prior to Amarillo National Bank's purchase of naming rights when the Dillas made their first appearance in Amarillo in 1994.

Contents 1 Pre-Dilla Era 2 Stadium Features 2.1 Seating 2.2 Concourse 2.3 Problems 2.3.1 Scoreboard 2.3.2 Electricity 3 New Stadium

[edit] Pre-Dilla Era

The Potter County Memorial Stadium was home to a few baseball clubs before hosting the modern Amarillo Dillas squad. In PCMS's first season to host baseball, the Amarillo Gold Sox were in business. The Gold Sox would spend 1959-1965 and 1976-1982 hosting AA professional baseball in the Texas League. The Gold Sox would also play in Class A and B leagues in 1955-1958.

[edit] Stadium Features

There are several features of the Amarillo National Bank Dilla Villa that are architecturally unique. The stadium however is one of the few classic stadiums left from the older baseball era, and unfortunately is dealing with it's share of difficulties.

[edit] Seating

The Amarillo National Dilla Villa seats 8,500 people, with three levels of seating. It features an array of field level box sections, 17 of them to be exact. Situated just above the box seats, are the club level seats. These seats range from sections A to M, and house the better majority of the stadiums seats. The stadium features two general admission bleacher sections on the first and third base sides. Directly behind home plate in the upper level are 4 levels of luxury boxes used for groups and parties. On either side of the home plate luxury boxes are sections of the blue fold down seats, the only covered seats that are fold down. Aside from the main grandstand, metal bleachers and box seats sit further down the third base line, and a party deck further down the first base line.

[edit] Concourse

The Dilla Villa houses one of the few non-major league stadiums in the country too have a upper and lower level concourse. The lower level concourse is the major one, leading to the main grandstand. It also houses 5 concession stands, 2 bars, and a souveneir shop. The players' dressing rooms are also in the concourse, and the players must walk through the concourse to access them. The upper level concourse is only accessable from the upper level, or from two staircases at the front of the ballpark. The concourse houses a beer stand, a concession stand, and the stadiums' bathrooms. No smoking is allowed in the ballpark, but there is a designated section behind the metal bleachers along the third base line.

[edit] Problems

The Amarillo National Dilla Villa underwent a major renovation in the winter of 2005, replacing many of the badly needed renovations. The Central League's Dillas left behind many problems that the United League's Dillas successfully tackled.

Numerous seats in the stands were broken, cracked, or were stolen. Bleachers in the upper section had been seperated and the paint was chipped. The grass was in poor shape, and the field itself was in bad shape. The backstop behind home plate was wooden, and was also rotting, and there were also numerous holes in the nets. Despite easily redoing these problems for the United League team, problems have began to plague the Dillas.

[edit] Scoreboard

The Dillas were left with a barely active, older electronic scoreboard, which was in use back in the early 90's. They made do with the scoreboard until the 2007 season, in which they bought a smaller, standard scoreboard just displaying score, inning, and strike-ball-out counts. Just a few days before the 2008 season began, a $5,000 computer chip was stolen out of the back of the new scoreboard. The Dillas would finally replace the computer chip a few games into the 2008 season.

[edit] Electricity

Several problems have started to arise with the lighting fixtures, and the concourse lighting at the Dilla Villa. Problems have started popping up ever since a game between the Dillas and Coyotes was cancelled after hurricane-like weather blew in. That night, two of the transformers powering the Dilla Villa exploded. Since then, three games have been cancelled due to light failures at the stadium.

[edit] New Stadium

There have been several rumours of a new stadium possibly being built in Amarillo. The main rumour has been a new stadium build downtown as a part of Amarillo's new downtown revitilization project, but several media outlets in Amarillo have denied such projects. Other possible sights inculde off of Interstate 27 on Hollywood Road, and near the growing part of Amarillo torward Bushland. The company that owns United League Baseball are currently in a project that will build a new Ballpark Plaza in Brownsville, Texas.