By Blair Cardinal
Diamond Baseball Holdings (DBH), which owns and operates select Minor League Baseball clubs, announced a partnership with global sports and entertainment company Oak View Group (OVG) to upgrade hospitality functions at select home stadiums across the DBH portfolio.
Working together with front office staffs and stadium facilities managers, OVG Hospitality, the food and beverage division of OVG, will rebrand, refresh and optimize the food and beverage operations across the DBH portfolio, beginning with five stadiums from the east coast to the west coast:
Mississippi Braves (Pearl, MS) / Trustmark Park
Midland Rockhounds (Midland, TX) / Momentum Bank Ballpark
Rome Braves (Rome, GA) / AdventHealth Stadium
San Jose Giants (San Jose, CA) / Excite Ballpark
Wichita Wind Surge (Wichita, KS) / Riverfront Stadium
The OVG Hospitality teams have already implemented technology solutions to bring faster service and a more seamless fan experience. Additionally, from fresh California flavors to Southern BBQ to soul food favorites, OVGH will infuse creativity, fun, and familiar regional favorites across menus and concepts.
“These five MiLB stadiums mark the start of what we expect will be a productive, long-term relationship 
with Oak View Group,” said Rick Barakat, SVP Business Strategy & Development, Diamond Baseball Holdings. “In the last year and a half, DBH has acquired more than a dozen MiLB clubs, and we’re just getting started. We brought in OVG Hospitality, with their expertise and best-in-class service, as a partner because they understand the opportunity to highlight and cultivate local traditions in each community while improving the fan experience and investing in growing the league as a whole.”
OVG Hospitality manages food and beverage services at more than 350 venues globally, including the spring training home of the Oakland Athletics (HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ), Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies (Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, AZ), and Triple-A ballparks in Albuquerque, New Mexico (Albuquerque Isotopes), Omaha, Nebraska (Omaha Storm Chasers), Norfolk, Virginia (Norfolk Tides) and Syracuse, New York (Syracuse Mets). OVG also handles the concessions operations for the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers (Biloxi, MS) and the High Point Rockers (High Point, NC) of the Independent Atlantic League.
“Fans will have an entirely renewed and refreshed hospitality experience in each of the five stadiums,” Ken Gaber, president, OVG Hospitality, said. “Through everything from new hospitality staff uniforms to delicious new food and beverage options, OVG Hospitality is bringing new energy and service-oriented professionalism to concessions. And, drawing from our deep experience in sports and entertainment, specifically from our F&B operations at other baseball stadiums across North America, we’re re-engineering menus to blend fresh new concepts with favorite traditions that are unique to each stadium and club. With our shared commitment to and belief in nurturing the MiLB ecosystem and each community within it, it was clear from the onset that Diamond Baseball Holdings and OVG would be partnering for a long time to come.”
Blair Cardinal is VP, Communications for OVG360.
Photo: Momentum Bank Ballpark, Midland, Texas.
