Space Coast Stadium

Parking
There are plenty of spaces in the large grass field behind the first base side of the ballpark. They are accessed through the general parking entrance, which is listed as Gate 5, found at the back of the parking lot, which itself is bisected by a palm tree-lined sidewalk that leads to the stadium. There's also a very small paved lot directly behind home plate, but it's reserved for team employees and the handicapped.
 Cost: $10

Stadium Information
Painted in the red, white and blue colors of the Nationals, Space Coast Stadium is comfortable and clean, but relatively plain. Its exterior facade looks like a vinyl sided house and is approached via wide paved paths that lead to a plaza featuring a large Casey at the Bat statue and replica of a Space Shuttle orbiter. For many years, the stadium's foul poles were covered with quite visible memorials to the two space shuttle disasters. Those tributes were removed in 2013 and now much smaller canvas banners on beams in the concourse behind home plate remember Challenger and Columbia. The less noticeable tributes still remain fitting, as the stadium took its name from its proximity to the Kennedy Space Center, the NASA launch facility for which the region is nicknamed. Originally the spring home of the Florida Marlins, Space Coast Stadium served as the final spring training camp of the Montreal Expos, who spent two seasons (2003-04) in Viera before the franchise became the Washington Nationals.

Fast Facts

Practice Fields

Types of Seating
The majority of the ballpark (5,348 seats) is filled with traditional plastic chair stadium seating. There are six sections of bleachers, three apiece down each outfield line, and a small berm in the outfield.

Notes about the seating

Sections and rows

Tickets

Seats to avoid
No seat is a bad buy but a spot in the berm is. It feels as though it was constructed as an afterthought and fans sitting there have no view of the scoreboard, which is directly behind the berm. Within the grandstand, seats in sections 101-104 and 116-119 face forward, not toward home plate, even though three-quarters of those sections are angled so that they better face the playing field than they otherwise would.

Seats in the shade
Space Coast Stadium has very small roofs on opposite sides of the grandstand that provide the only shade in the ballpark. The top five rows (20-24) in sections 204-206 and 216-218 are the only ones that are covered by the dual aluminum arched roofs. Sit anywhere else, and the only escape from the sun (or rain) will be in the covered concourse behind home plate.

As for the seats which actually receive shade, they vary slightly from the exact roofline thanks to sun path. For day games, the sun looms over right field, shining its rays (on non-cloudy days) into more of the third base side stands as the game goes on. So around a 1:05 game time, shade will be found in rows 22-24 of sections 204-206, with some seat exceptions, but around the typical halfway point of the game, shade will have diminished in those three sections to just being granted to patrons in rows 23 and 24. For fans sitting under cover in the first base stands -- that's the home/Nationals side -- more seats became shaded as the innings go by. When the game begins, just rows 19-24 in sections 216-218 are shaded (with a smattering of seats sun-soaked exceptions). But by the middle innings, shade covers just about every seat in rows 17 through 24.

Besides the sun, one other thing affects which seats are shaded when. That would be Daylight Saving Time. The times listed in this section are based on pre-DST, so there will be a row or so variance after the "spring forward" date. But the rule for this ballpark is, shade is gained at fist base and lost at third base in the three sections on each side that have limited roof cover.

VIP seating
There is a two-level Berm Deck in left field that can be reserved by parties of 25 or more. Price varies upon size of the group and includes an all you can eat buffet. Thanks to the adjacent berm, the deck area can accommodate groups of up to 400 people. The stadium has 14 suites, seven on either side of the press box. The suites seat either 12 or 21 people. Five small sections of Batter's Box seats are at field level between the dugouts. Besides their closeness to the field and home plate, they get their exclusiveness because of their scarcity and separation: each Batter's Box "section" has just one or two rows and they are walled off from the regular Box seats behind them.

Game Day
Gates open 95 minutes before game time; that's 11:30 a.m. for the most frequent starting time of 1:05. More than any other ballpark in Florida, wind is a factor in Viera. So it's advisable to bring a windbreaker, especially if you'll be attending a night game.

Food, drink and bag policy

Getting autographs
Narrow walkways next to the dugouts at field level serve as excellent dedicated pre-game autograph alleys where players will sign at their discretion during warm-ups. Fans can stay in the "autograph wells" right up until game time and they (there are two) are probably your best chance before the game, although there are days when players stay mostly away. When that's the case, a good place to be to catch a Nationals player is at the bottom of sections 117-119, with the aisle area between 117-118 the most preferable spot.

After the game, fans of the visiting team should head outside the stadium and station themselves along the 5' tall chain link fence that follows the sidewalk that leads players from the visitors' clubhouse beneath the third base grandstand to their waiting bus. The closer you stand to the double glass doors the better, although you don't want to be too close to the doors since they swing open, thereby thwarting attempts by the few fans closest to the clubhouse in their autograph pursuits.

Postgame autograph opportunities from Nationals players are most plentiful outside of the stadium, far down the right field line where three palm trees stand near a locked gate in the tall perimeter chain link fence. Through open spaces in that gate, fans can hold items out to get signed by Nats players while they are passing by, which they do en route from their clubhouse to their parking lot, a path that takes them from the end of the first base grandstand (clubhouse) to a secure area behind right field (parking lot). The players will be in their street clothes by then and it's not unusual for quite a few to stop and sign, hence a decent crowd can often be found waiting for them to do so.

Unique ballpark fare
Creative cuisine choices abound, although the variety is spread throughout the place. Items of interest to look for include a grilled chicken Caesar salad, chicken stix (skewers of teriyaki and BBQ basted chicken), seafood specialties like a blackened mahi sandwich, and "baskets" of ballpark favorites that include fries for one low (by ballpark standards) price. A decent selection of beer is found on tap. Bud and Bud Light have long been the featured drafts, but Hawaii-based Kona Brewing's offerings (Fire Rock Pale Ale, Longboard Island Lager, etc.) are also often found at portable carts along the back of the concourse, from which and where all draft beer is generally sold. A unique couple to look for are Florida Lager, which is brewed locally, and Nationals Red, which if you can find is a Killian's red-like product actually made by Budweiser. Coca-Cola controls the soft drink market.

2016 Nationals Spring Training Schedule (only home games at Space Coast Stadium are listed)

March
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
				3 Mets 1:05	4	5 Tigers 1:05
6	7 Marlins 1:05	8	9	10 Astros 5:05	11 Mets 1:05	12
13 Cardinals 1:05	14 Astros 1:05	15	16	17 Braves 1:05	18	19 Mets 1:05
20	21 Astros 1:05	22	23 Yankees 5:05	24 Cardinals 1:05	25	26
27 Braves 1:05	28 Marlins 1:05	29	30	31

* Single game tickets went on sale Saturday, January 30.
See the full 2016 Nationals Spring Training schedule

Ballpark Area Info
When it first opened in 1994, Space Coast Stadium was in the middle of undeveloped cow pastures. Some of the land in the nearby vicinity has since been developed and continues to be, but there are plenty of open green spaces around the ballpark. The closest building is Viera High School and much of the county's governmental buildings are located nearby. The closest commercial development is the Avenue Viera, which opened in 2004 about 1.2 miles from the ballpark, and from which the stadium's light towers can be seen.

Travelers' notes

Hotels close to Space Coast Stadium			Become a featured advertiser
Distance	Hotel	Street Address	City/Zip	Phone
2.3 miles	La Quinta Inn	7200 George T. Edwards Dr	Melbourne, FL 32940	321-242-9400
2.5	Holiday Inn	8298 N Wickham Rd	Melbourne, FL 32940	321-255-0077
3.2	The Swiss Inn	3220 S Fiske Blvd	Rockledge, FL 32955	321-631-9445
13.8	Fairfield Inn & Suites	4355 W New Haven Ave	West Melbourne, FL 32904	321-722-2220
23.3	Hampton Inn	4760 Helen Hauser Blvd	Titusville, FL 32780	321-383-9191
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Restaurants close to Space Coast Stadium
Distance	Restaurant	Street Address	City/Zip	Phone
1.2 miles	Chili's	6550 Colonnade Ave	Viera, FL 32940	321-639-6881
1.2	Steak 'n Shake	6728 Colonnade Ave	Viera, FL 32940	321-637-9445
1.2	LongHorn Steakhouse	6691 Lake Andrew Dr	Melbourne, FL 32940	321-632-9990
1.4	Panera Bread	2290 Town Center Ave	Melbourne, FL 32940	321-504-7250
1.4	Moe's Southwest Grill	2230 Town Center Ave	Viera, FL 32940	321-433-3540
1.4	The Melting Pot	2230 Town Center Ave	Melbourne, FL 32940	321-433-3040
1.5	Viera Pizza	5470 Murrell Rd	Viera, FL 32940	321-636-7696
1.5	Beef ‘O’ Brady’s	5410 Murrell Rd	Viera, FL 32955	321-633-4030
17.3	Rodizio Grill	1700 W New Haven Ave	Melbourne, FL 32904	321-723-4745
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Airports close to Space Coast Stadium
Distance	Airport		Airport Code
13.3 miles	Melbourne International		MLB
35.7	Orlando International		MCO
66.9	Daytona Beach International		DAB
Places of interest close to Space Coast Stadium
Distance	Place	Street Address	City/Zip	Phone
1.3 miles	Duran Golf Club	7032 Stadium Pkwy	Viera, FL 32940	321-504-7776
10.2	Melbourne Greyhound Park	1100 N Wickham Rd	Melbourne, FL 32935	321-259-9800

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