Renovated HomeTrust Park debuts at Asheville Tourists home opener

A sold-out crowd of 4,000 filled Asheville’s rebuilt ballpark as the Tourists opened their home schedule against the Greenville Drive, getting a first look at HomeTrust Park and the renovations that transformed McCormick Field.

After roughly 18 months of work and about $38.5 million in upgrades, the park opened with a new videoboard, murals, an expanded concourse and a far more polished game-day experience than fans had known at the old stadium. The project was scheduled to finish on April 21, 2026, and the home opener doubled as the public debut for the upgraded facility.

The renovation touched nearly every part of the fan and player experience. The ballpark now includes improved ticketing areas, a new team store, upgraded clubhouses, new women’s locker rooms, renovated restrooms, kitchen and dining space, a new sound system and expanded amenities for spectators. The team’s renovation FAQ also lists an expanded front entrance and plaza, new party areas, a state-of-the-art scoreboard, hitting cages, a designated facility for female coaches, a designated facility for female umpires, LED lights, an Asheville Baseball History Walk and a new playing surface.

The project was also about keeping Asheville’s ballpark competitive with Major League Baseball’s modernization push for the minors. Asheville.com described it as the largest single construction project ever undertaken by the City of Asheville in dollar terms, with funding from the city, Buncombe County Government, the Asheville Tourists and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. The BCTDA committed $22,950,000 over 15 years through the Product Development Fund debt-service opportunity.

The stakes go beyond baseball. The renovated park is meant to host concerts, festivals and other year-round events, tying the venue more tightly to downtown traffic, visitor spending and Asheville’s identity as a sports and entertainment city. That broader role helps explain why the renaming stirred such strong feelings. Some fans called McCormick Field nostalgic even as they said the improvements made the change easier to accept.

The new name links two institutions with deep local roots. The Asheville Tourists date to 1915, while HomeTrust Bank traces its history to 1926 and is headquartered in Asheville. HomeTrust Park sits just south of downtown on a hillside that has been part of Asheville’s baseball landscape since McCormick Field opened in 1924, making the building’s new look and new name feel both modern and intensely local at the same time.