![]() ![]() “I am grateful for all that the game of baseball gave me throughout my career, and now I am proud and excited to lead a team that is building opportunities for players, fans, and families to enjoy our national pastime and for teams to train and compete,” said Frank Thomas, a retired MLB star and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee who now serves as CEO of Go the Distance Baseball, in a statement. Meanwhile infrastructural improvement at and around the site are already underway. ![]() Events hosted at the site are expected to result in more than $25 million in direct annual spending. Per Go the Distance Baseball, phased development work at the Field of Dreams Movie Site will support hundreds of construction jobs when fully completed, its anticipated that the expanded facility will generate around 170 new full-time equivalent jobs. Go the Distance Baseball, which shifted ownership last summer after the site’s initial investors sold their controlling stake in the company, has tapped a consulting team led by RDG Planning & Design, a multidisciplinary firm with multiple offices including in Omaha, Des Moines, and Iowa City, along with local firms Origin Design and Conlon Construction, and Leopardo Companies to provide architectural, engineering, planning, and construction services for the master plan’s development. Last August, the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox faced off on at the famed Dyersville diamond for what was the first-ever regular season Major League Baseball game held in Iowa this summer, the iconic ball field will host another game between the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds. The rural acreage-described in a press release as being preserved as a “baseball shrine for future generations”-currently features a souvenir shop, tours and rentals of the farmhouse featured in the movie, a concession stand, and, of course, a ball field. ![]() It’s expected that 300,000 baseball fans will make the pilgrimage to the site this year alone. ![]() The property, owned and operated by Go the Distance Baseball, LLC, is among Iowa’s top pop culture-famous tourist attractions alongside the titular bridges of Madison County. To be clear, they’ve already been coming to the Field of Dreams Movie Site by the busload for years. The $80 million development scheme, which will also preserve much of the idyllic property as a working farm, marks the largest private investment in Dyersville history and one of the largest-ever in Dubuque County. A permanent baseball stadium at the site is also a possibility further down the road at the expanded site, described as “premier youth baseball and softball destination for players, families, fans, and tourists from around the world.” These elements are slated for completion by the end of next year future development phases through 2025 will include the construction of a 100,000-square-foot field house, RV park, outdoor concert amphitheater, jogging trails through the cornfields, and a sprawling park designed to be inclusive for children and adult with disabilities. Now, the owners of the very same Dyersville, Iowa, farm where Field of Dreams was filmed are heeding that very same advice by adding nearly 100 acres to the existing 190-acre property as part of a master plan set to include nine new fields for youth softball and baseball, team dormitories, and a 104-room boutique hotel. ![]()
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