Rockford breaks ground on $4M renovation honoring women’s baseball

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Officials in Rockford broke ground Monday on a $4 million renovation project at the historic Beyer Stadium, marking a significant step in honoring women’s baseball.

The renovation plan includes new bleachers, restrooms, scoreboards, and an outdoor exhibit dedicated to women’s baseball in Maybelle Blair Park.

“We’ve been saying for 15 years that there’s no home for women’s baseball,” said Kat Williams, CEO of the International Women’s Baseball Center (IWBC). “We have been saying since 2016, that home is Rockford, Illinois. And Rockford, Illinois stepped up.”

The renovations at Beyer Stadium are expected to be completed by the end of next year. Following this, plans are in place to construct a $23 million museum dedicated to the history of women’s baseball, which is anticipated to be finished by 2030.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WTVO. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WTVO staff before being published.