See the Coolest New Ballpark Upgrades for 2025!

Opening Day is around the corner, and the Oakland Ballers are leveling up for the 2025 season. Co-Founder Paul Freedman and VP of Communications Casey Pratt take you on an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the new and improved Raimondi Park. From better sightlines to a legacy BART car, Scrappy’s Sanctuary for Lost Animals, and a brand-new playground zone-this video covers it all.

✅ New fan entry setup
✅ Kid Zone fencing and family upgrades
✅ Scrappy’s Test Kitchen food truck
✅ The debut of a real retired BART car
✅ And more surprises before the May 20th opener!

Don’t miss out on everything that’s changing at the ballpark-this is more than baseball. It’s the start of something bigger in Oakland.

📅 Opening Day: May 20, 2025
⚾ First Homestand Details at: https://oaklandballers.com

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#OaklandBallers #RaimondiPark #IndependentBaseball #OaklandNews #OpeningDay #BallparkUpgrades #ScrappysSanctuary #BARTcar #CaseyPratt #PaulFreedman #BayAreaBaseball

here with Baller’s co-founder Paul Freriedman. Last year at this exact time, we pretty much stood in this exact spot and none of this was here. And so this will be a path that people can walk down. Uh the stands are going to come all this way. It’s all going to be seating. This was still a field. It was a construction site. I mean, it’s still kind of a construction site, but last year there’s nothing here. Now we got a ballpark. But we got some new improvements, some things that are exciting for this year that we want to talk about. Yeah. So, we’re just going to walk around and show you all the new things coming up at Romani Park this season. Starting with these things, which are pretty cool. We’re going to get two more here any second. But yeah, a little scrappy sanctuary for lost animals, right? We got the stompers. The stompers are home. The stompers have been rescued. Two down, 50 to go. All right. Now, this is a pretty cool area over here. And I liked this area a lot last year, uh, when I took my kids to games. But the problem was this playground was outside of the ballpark as we just walked through a fence. This year though, the the playground’s going to be in the ballpark this year. Um, just for game day, so it’s still a community playground for most of the the days, but in the during game days, we’re going to have a fence that’s wraps around here. It’s getting built over the next couple weeks. This is going to be able to be a kid zone. That’s sweet. And you can see the outfield right there. Now, there’s some like major construction going on as we speak. Last year when we did this, there was also major construction going on. a bit different this time, but what are we seeing take place right there? So, we’re seeing the construction of the batting cages. So, two professional batting cages, obviously really important for the team. Um, but also an asset that can be booked for by the community, something that, you know, little league uh teams or um, you know, just people wanting to practice are going to be able to book as a community asset because everything here at Romani Park is, you know, still a public park. And so, we use it for our game days, but it’s available for other activations. And, and this one’s going to be really exciting. I don’t know that there’s batting cages of this quality, you know, available in Oakland. Yeah. And something to point out, right on the other side of the batting cages, the putting green, still there, still there for community use. And then right across the street now is Prescott Market, which wasn’t even there last year, but I go over there now. The Highwire Coffee is incredible. The Smashburgers are incredible. The tap room is incredible. That’s going to be the best pregame scene for tailgating in the entire Bay Area. No, it’s it’s incredible. If you haven’t been in there yet, it’s it’s absolutely amazing. They’ve done a wonderful job. Uh, Almanac Brewery’s there. So, go there, have a beer or two, grab a pizza, come to the ballers game, and they’ll be open afterwards, too. It’s not just tailgating. What’s the word for postgaming? Postgame. Pregaming. Postgaming. There you go. All right, let’s head back inside. Now, we’re inside the Stadium Bowl. This is the thing that I must have asked you guys about a hundred times before I started working here. the big black poles that were right behind messing up the sighteline, messing up the TV broadcast. I look around, they’re gone. The poles are gone. Yeah. So, last year, obviously, not a lot of time. This used to be a little league field. It was a chain link fence. You know, you need more poles to carry a chain link fence than you do for the fancy netting we got. This year, the poles are gone. So, now the view from the bowl is just it’s going to be it’s going to be perfect. You’re going to be able to see the ballers win without a pole in your way. Yeah, I like that because A, it’s just so much more stunning now visually. No obstruction. B, the netting being replaced is going to look so much better, especially out in left field and right here for all the fans. So, if you’re watching Ballers games, no more obstructed seating right here in the first rows. Yep. And there was one of the things that fans asked for and one of the things we were able to deliver. Another big thing that fans had asked before is more stuff on the video scoreboard. And so we spent a lot of time uh we we kind of invested in a bunch of technology. Um people wanted uh slow motion, they wanted instant replay, they wanted more stats on the scoreboard. And guess what? We’re going to have it all. So, you know, more dynamic action happening in the scoreboard uh and no pull in your way to watch it. Yeah, exactly. Now, infrastructure isn’t always sexy, but it does take a lot to reimplement all the technology, rip out all these poles, fix the netting. So, I mean, I think that’s a huge improvement coming up for this baller season. And as we grow into this ballpark more, there’s so much more we can continue to do. Like the food kitchen, which we’re going to head to right now. Another one of my favorite additions this season is very subtle. It’s very lowkey, but if you look in this planter box right there, what do we see? Colosseum ice plant. Rally ice plant. We’re not sure how it got here. It kind of walked from the coliseum on its own, just like Scrappy. Just like Scrappy, but it’s planted here. is growing healthily. It’s taking over. This is our rally ice plant. It’s going to wish us good luck. It’s going to remind us of the collie. And we’re not going to have this here. We’re going to get up and check this out. But check this thing out. We got our own food truck now. Yeah, we got a food truck right now. It’s a sizzling masala food truck, which sounds delicious and dangerous. But actually, it’s going to be Scrappy’s test kitchen, which we’re really excited about because it’s going to be our own food truck. It’s going to be beautiful. And it’s also going to be an opportunity for us to give small business entrepreneurs who are looking for their first step in food service their first food concept. We’re going to be supporting them, giving them some game nights, giving them some support. Uh so it’s both a, you know, a great food concept and also a good thing for the community. Yeah. So this will go over to the food truck area. It’ll get a fresh wrap. It’ll be Scrappy’s test kitchen and then we’ll be able to bring in all kinds of local chef and have them cook for you, which is pretty sweet. So we have this food truck, but we also got a BART car. Where the heck are we putting this thing? As you can see, there’s no B car here, but this is eventually where it’s going to go. We’re not going to get to it by this season, but it’s awesome. It’s iconic. It’s part of Bay Area history. It’s part of Oakland history, and it’s going to be part of our food service setup, but probably next season. Yeah, people were really stoked on that BART car, but what they don’t realize is it actually takes a lot of time to fabricate a BART car, and we just got it a couple weeks ago. Our season’s about to start, but we have big plans for that BART car, and it’s going to drop right there. Yeah, we mentioned the BART car, so we had to kind of just pop inside, show you a sneak peek. It is in a posh undisclosed location, but next year it will be inside Raandi Park and used for the fans. You can come check it out. We’re going to take great care of this car. We’re going to do something really special with it next year. It’s so amazing. It’s a piece of Oakland history. It’s a piece of Bay Area history. You know, we love it. We’re going to love it. The fans are going to love it. We got a B car. Boop boop. So, last year we stood in this exact spot. None of that was there. Uh, now it is. And it’s pretty insane to see the difference. But let’s talk a little bit about security for this ballpark. Last year there was two gates, one here, one over by the playground. Now, this is going to be the only entrance to the ballpark, right? Yeah. So, the only entrance to the ballpark this year is on uh 20th side. It’s like 20th in Willow. Uh, that’s going to be the full entrance. Part of the reason why we’re going to be able to do that is we have an upgraded security system through our partner Evolve, which means you’re not going to have to take your stuff out of your pocket. uh you’re going to be able to kind of walk through and we’re going to be able to, you know, make it a lot faster. So, we’re gonna have one entrance on the 20th side. The other thing is we are enforcing the clear policy. So, don’t bring those not clear bags. You’re going to have to leave them and it’s going to be annoying and it’s going to hold up the line. So, just leave them at home. And if you come to the game uh on nurses appreciation night, they’re actually going to be giving away those clear bags. So, you can pick one up there if you don’t already have one. Right. May 23rd, nurses appreciation day. appreciate the nurses, which we should appreciate every day, and get a free bag. It’s clear. You can use it to take stuff through all the rest of the days. No one will yell at you. It would be fantastic. But while we’re here, also want to talk about some uh changes to to to the parking situation. So, still have our VIP parking, the Frank Robinson lot under roof, very secure, very close walk. This year, we’re also going to have the bike valet on that side. So, you know, last year we probably averaged 100 or 200 bikes a game. Um going to take them over to the 20th side, have them under the roof, have them the same place as parking, just a little easier for everybody. Yeah. One of the coolest things I saw on opening day last year, actually, I was standing on this concourse here. Freshly paved streets, about 40 bikes just rode by. I mean, the bikes actually really come through for ballers games. This is a very bikable ballpark. We wanted biking culture to be part of it from the very beginning. Partnered with community to make that happen. Partner with Bike East Bay to have a bike valet and people show up with bikes. It’s awesome. Do it. Bike. All right. Paul had to jet. He is on his way to the city council where they’re about to approve a 10year lease extension for Ramandi Park. The ballers aren’t going anywhere and we want this ballpark to grow with us. There’s still plenty more work to be done. We’re doing all kinds of exciting things this year ahead of opening day. You saw Scrappy Sanctuary for Los Animals. You saw what will be Scrappy’s test kitchen. You got a sneak peek at the BART car, our improved security screening and entry situation, our improved fencing. The playground will be inside the ballpark. Like I said, infrastructure isn’t sexy, but it does cost a lot of money and safety is paramount here. We are going to get to all the things that you fans want here at Ramondi Park, including the bathrooms. It’s not a this year thing, but it will be in the near future. We have a bunch of ideas for that as well. And let’s just take in this view ahead of opening day. No big black poles. Improved sightelines. That’ll help the broadcast. That’ll help the fans sitting in the stands. I’m fired up for Ami Park. Opening day, May 20th, we’re going to have Lil Russell in the house. We’re going to have Abe in the house. We’re going to have IO Brah in the house. And then two days later, too short, we’ll be performing a music video right here on this field, Ramondi Park. We cannot wait to see you Ballers fam at the games.