Background The
Potomac Nationals, playing since 1984 at
Northwest Federal Field at Pfitzner Stadium in
Woodbridge, Virginia, began seeking a better ballpark at least as early as 1998, with
various proposals made in 2000, 2002, 2005, 2010, 2011, and 2016. Meanwhile, Fredericksburg worked with the
Hagerstown Suns in 2013 and 2014 on plans to relocate that team for the 2015 season, but those plans fell apart.
Approval In June 2018,
Potomac Nationals owner Art Silber announced that he had signed a letter of intent to build a new stadium in Fredericksburg that would open in April 2020. In November 2018 the Fredericksburg city council unanimously gave final approval for the Silber family, doing business as Potomac Baseball, LLC, to finance, build and maintain the stadium with the city as an "anchor tenant" making an annual payment to the club of $1.05 million for 30 years.
Construction A
groundbreaking ceremony was held on February 24, 2019, A month later it was announced that site work would begin in July 2019. In August 2019, the Fredericksburg Economic Development and Tourism Office released a video of earth being moved at the construction site. The
Potomac Nationals played their last regular season game at Pfitzner Stadium on August 29, 2019. On September 25, 2019, general manager Nick Hall said, "We're 100 percent planning on opening April 23, [2020,]" and that the first concrete could be poured as early as the next week. MASN reported on January 13, 2020, that Hall had said that construction was on schedule; that he was confident the venue will be ready for the 2020 season; and, "The seating bowl should actually be finished by the end of next week." With the 2020 season start postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the Nationals held a virtual opening day on April 23, 2020. Hall said that the stadium was baseball-ready though construction was not yet complete, even though, with construction deemed as essential business, "The construction progress has gone off without a hitch." Construction was continuing at the start of June 2020.
Use The start of the 2020 minor league baseball season was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic before ultimately being cancelled on June 30. The still unnamed ballpark was used in the
2020 Major League Baseball season as the alternate training site for members of the
Washington Nationals 60-man player pool who were not assigned to the 40-man roster. The Washington Nationals chose the ballpark to again serve as their alternate site to begin the
2021 season. At this time, the facility became known as FredNats Ballpark, The team also began hosting a series of concerts in 2021 including performances from
The Beach Boys and
Blue Öyster Cult. The stadium's current baseball attendance record was set on May 24, 2022, in a 6-1 loss to the
Salem Red Sox when
Stephen Strasburg made a rehabilitation appearance, pitching 2.2 innings on 62 pitches. On March 11, 2025, the stadium hosted its first ever collegiate game between the #20
Virginia Cavaliers and the
Maryland Terrapins. 4,000 fans watched the Cavaliers defeats the Terrapins 7-6 in walk-off fashion.
Naming rights On March 5, 2022, the Fredericksburg Nationals announced that they would rename the ballpark Virginia Credit Union Stadium in a 10-year naming rights deal. == References ==