History

LeLacheur Park was conceived in the mid-1990s as a city–university partnership that would add a modern ballpark to UMass Lowell’s East Campus while strengthening Lowell’s riverfront redevelopment. Construction began in 1996, and the park opened on June 22, 1998, with the University of Massachusetts Lowell as owner and the UMass Lowell baseball program as a permanent tenant.

The site itself shaped the project in a meaningful way. Engineers and designers had to build on land that had previously been used as an urban landfill above the Merrimack River, with soft soils below the fill and major underground infrastructure in the area—constraints that influenced how the stadium was planned and supported. The ballpark was designed by what is now known as Populous (formerly HOK Sport), and its elevated seating bowl and wraparound concourse were intended to keep sightlines open while connecting the game-day experience to the surrounding mill city and river setting.

LeLacheur quickly became more than a home field—it became a proven championship venue. The park was selected to host the America East Baseball Championship for multiple years, including the conference’s 2014–2017 run in Lowell and a later return of the tournament slated for 2020. Those events reinforced LeLacheur’s reputation as a high-level college baseball site that can handle postseason crowds and big moments.

Architecturally, LeLacheur is also known for its intimate scale and distinctive field geometry, including a notably short 301-foot right field line—a product of fitting a full ballpark footprint into a constrained riverfront campus parcel.