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Zephyr Field

Soccer in a baseball park? Why not? Zephyr Field, located on Airline Highway in Metairie, is a 10,000-seat facility for baseball. The pitch for Storm matches will run down the third base line, so that the halfway line will be just past the third base dugout.

The move to Zephyr Field means that the team will play their home matches on grass this year, a massive improvement from the artificial surface of Tad Gormley Stadium. We have heard rumors that the team will want to move back to Tad Gormley after the plastic is pulled up there and grass restored. We don't know how much stock to put in those rumors, since there are also location issues involved in playing at the ballpark.

Playing on grass means we'll also get to play our opening round of the US Open Cup (most likely against a D3 team) at home this year. We had to travel to Austin last year because teams have the right to refuse to play on an artificial surface.

The grounds crew at the ballpark are ready for the challenge of maintaining the grass for both baseball and soccer. They've got a system for placing grass down on the dirt portions of the infield. They've also designed a "portable" pitcher's mound. This allows them to pull up the entire 18" mound and lay flat grass down for soccer matches.

Zephyr Field is a classic old-style ballpark, with lots of open-air space behind the seats. The food is also excellent, ranging from Pizza Hut pizzas to New Orleans dishes from Messina's. The seats are big and comfortable (with drink holders for every seat), and there's lots of well-lit parking.