The Augusta GreenJackets announced Tuesday afternoon that their new North Augusta ballpark will be called SRP Park, breaking the news in a press event at North Augusta's municipal building.
This longterm agreement, in partnership with SRP Federal Credit Union, is consistent with Naming Rights agreements for similar venues throughout baseball and the largest sponsorship agreement in the history of the GreenJackets.
The grand opening for SRP Park is April 12, 2018.
“We couldn’t be more excited to have North Augusta’s largest institution as our partners in the community. We know from that tagline that good things happen at SRP and now those good things can happen at SRP Park," said GreenJackets President Jeff Eiseman in a Tuesday press release. "To us there isn’t a better fit locally to see up in lights than SRP, they are the largest locally based company in North Augusta, they are active and involved throughout the community as well as the CSRA and they have been partners with the team for well over a decade. We take pride in SRP and think SRP Park will be the pride of the CSRA."
Attending Tuesday's event was Todd Glover, North Augusta's municipal administrator. He confirmed that the question of naming rights for the stadium had been discussed since the project first came to light.
"Obviously, it's a project for the whole area, but I think there's an extra bit of pride there that it's a North Augusta-based company," Glover said, pointing out that the credit union has its corporate headquarters in North Augusta.
“SRP credit union is a great corporate citizen of North Augusta, and I can’t think of any other name that would be more appropriate on the ballfield,” said North Augusta Mayor Bob Petitt in the press release.
“This is the biggest thing to happen in our community in some time and it is in keeping with who we are as a company. We care about the communities we serve and we believe that this opportunity will further reinforce that commitment," said Harry Gunsallus, president and CEO of SRP FCU. "SRP was formed in 1960 and has been proud to call this area our home ever since. As you may have heard from our marketing messages, we are not going away and this investment demonstrates that to the fine people of the CSRA.
"The GreenJackets came to us because we have had a long-standing partnership with them and because we are the largest locally owned business in North Augusta. We are honored to be able to show our commitment to both the GreenJackets as well as all the folks of North Augusta and the greater CSRA.”
Among the most prominent stadiums and athletic fields named for financial institutions are Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte), Citi Field (New York), Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia) and EverBank Field (Jacksonville, Florida).
