No ‘definitive’ date yet for opening of new Spruce Grove ballpark

Less than a month before their season is supposed to start, Spruce Grove's Energy City Cactus Rats say they cannot commit to an opening date for their ballpark.

With their first home game of the season less than a month away, the owner of Spruce Grove’s summer collegiate baseball team said Thursday he can’t give “a definitive date” for when its new ballpark will open.

Patrick Cassidy, the managing partner of the Energy City Cactus Rats, said in an email to subscribers that the under-construction Energy City Metro Ballpark – located on the eastern edge of the bedroom community 10 kilometres west of the Edmonton city limit – isn’t yet ready to accept visitors.

“At this time, we are unable to announce a definitive date for when the stadium will be open to the public,” Cassidy said in the email. “We recognize fans and community members are eager to hear more specific timelines, but there is still work that needs to be completed to meet all required code and safety clearances.”

The Cactus Rats, formerly known as the Edmonton Prospects, are scheduled to play their first home game of the season at their new ballpark on Saturday, June 6, against the Brooks Bombers.

The team opens training camp in two weeks and begins play on May 29.

Work on the ballpark on Pioneer Road just north of Highway 16A began in the fall of 2023 after years of delays and was slated to open in June last year.

But the club played the first six weeks of last season on the road and used Fort McMurray’s ballpark as their home venue for a clutch of late June games. They eventually used Spruce Grove’s Henry Singer Ball Park, a baseball complex with scant bleacher seating, for some home games.

“In the meantime, work continues, the weather is cooperating, progress is good,” Cassidy wrote. “We will release more information as soon as we are able.”