Dell Diamond
Dell Diamond serves as the home ballpark for the Round Rock Express, the Texas Rangers’ Triple-A Minor League Baseball club. The then-Double-A affiliate Express played their first home game at the stadium on April 16, 2000.
Dell Diamond is situated on 85 acres (344,000 m2) of former farmland on the east side of Round Rock, Texas, a fast rising suburb northeast of Austin. Nolan Ryan and his son Reid Ryan, Express co-owners, originally desired a stadium within the city limits of Austin, but located a more appealing site in the Local of Round Rock, with city administration support. The city of Round Rock donated $7.35 million toward the facility’s $25 million cost. The ballpark is owned by the city, who granted the Express a 38-year lease. Dell, a local computer technology business, agreed to pay $2.5 million for the name rights over a 15-year period.
The Round Rock Express
The Round Rock Express are a Pacific Coast League (PCL) Minor League Baseball team and the Texas Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate. They are based in Round Rock, Texas, and their home games are held at the Dell Diamond. The club is named after Nolan Ryan, who was known as “The Ryan Express” in baseball. Ryan’s ownership group, Ryan Sanders Baseball, includes his son Reid Ryan and Don Sanders.
The ownership group led by Nolan Ryan and Don Sanders began operations in Round Rock in 2000 with the opening of the Dell Diamond, moving the Double-A Texas League’s Jackson Generals to the new park, affiliating with the Houston Astros, and setting Double-A attendance records. By 2003, Corpus Christi had offered the Ryan-Sanders group $20 million to build a stadium and relocate a professional baseball franchise, and the ownership group was satisfied that Round Rock could support Triple-A baseball.
Meanwhile, the Pacific Coast League’s Edmonton Trappers franchise was under pressure from the rest of the league to transfer to the United States after the Calgary Cannons left following the 2002 season for Albuquerque. Following the completion of the Corpus Christi stadium for the Double-A club, the Ryan group purchased the Trappers franchise with plans to relocate it to Round Rock for the 2005 season. The Triple-A club would continue to be known as the Round Rock Express; the Double-A club would be known as the Corpus Christi Hooks; and the Ryan group was able to negotiate an affiliation swap with the New Orleans Zephyrs to obtain the Astros’ Triple-A affiliation for the newly-arrived PCL club.
With a win-loss record of 85-59, the Round Rock Express won the league’s American Conference’s Southern Division in 2006. After defeating the Nashville Sounds in five games to win the American Conference title, they advanced to the PCL championship series, but were defeated in three games by the Tucson Sidewinders.
The Express became the Texas Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate in 2011, after 6 seasons as the Houston Astros’ Triple-A affiliate and 11 seasons total as an Astros affiliate. Attendance has declined 8% since moving affiliations from Houston to Texas through the completion of the 2018 season. Each of the top nine season attendances came during the team’s 11-year affiliation with Houston.
Events
The stadium has also hosted a few of collegiate games, including some early-season University of Texas games in 2007 while the Longhorns’ home field, UFCU Disch-Falk Field, was being renovated. On February 21, 2012, the Baylor Bears and Texas State Bobcats played a showcase neutral-site game. The University Interscholastic League state baseball championship is also held at Dell Diamond. The stadium hosted a rugby union match between Canada and USA Rugby on February 13, 2016, as part of the Americas Rugby Championship.
Manny Parra, pitcher for the visiting Nashville Sounds, pitched a perfect game against the Round Rock Express on June 25, 2007.
The ballpark hosted the Double-A All-Star Game on July 11, 2001, in which a team of National League-affiliated All-Stars defeated a team of American League-affiliated All-Stars, 8-3, in front of 12,046 fans.
Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton “worked” at the stadium for a day in 2004. This was shot for a Season 2 episode of The Simple Life, their reality show.
Prior to the field’s resurfacing, the stadium hosted the Traxxas Monster Truck Destruction Tour in October 2016.
From September 2017 to mid-March 2018, the stadium was used as a set for the fourth season of Fear the Walking Dead on AMC.
As a result, the field had to be resurfaced because vegetables had been planted on it and the grass had been chemically killed to achieve a post-apocalyptic appearance.
Rugby league
The Austin Elite of Major League Rugby confirmed Dell Diamond as their 2019 home venue in 2019. Dell Diamond has also hosted Americas Rugby Championship international matches.
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