For over fifty years, Nebraska played its home games at
Buck Beltzer Stadium, located just northeast of
Memorial Stadium. By the 1990s, the stadium was out-of-date and lacked many of the amenities that had become typical of Division I college baseball stadiums. A new baseball and softball stadium project was announced on July 30, 1999, and unanimously approved by the
University of Nebraska Board of Regents on April 1, 2000. The
Omaha-based
DLR Group was contracted as the principal designer for the complex. Then-NU head coach
Dave Van Horn and representatives from the DLR Group toured stadiums throughout the region for inspiration in the design process; the prominent brick and open concourse of Haymarket Park can be seen at venues including
Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in
Oklahoma City and
Franklin Covey Field (now Smith's Ballpark) in
Salt Lake City. Nebraska played its first game at Hawks Field on March 4 of the following year, a 23–1 victory over
Nebraska–Kearney. at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park on March 11, 2011 Hawks Field is named for Myrna Hawks, the wife of prominent Omaha businessman Howard Hawks; the couple were significant donors to the construction of the complex, but Myrna died before the stadium was complete. The Hawks Championship Center football practice facility is also named for the family. Hawks Field has a listed capacity of 8,486, including 4,419 seatback chairs and room for approximately 4,000 additional fans in the grass
berms down the left and right field lines. NU ranked fourteenth nationally in total attendance in 2022 and regularly leads the
Big Ten Conference in attendance. The highest recorded attendance at Hawks Field was on April 14, 2006, when an overflow crowd of 8,757 watched fourth-ranked Nebraska defeat
Texas A&M 4–3. The city of Lincoln, which maintains ownership of the land and buildings in the Haymarket Park complex, contributed $13.7 million to construction. The University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Lincoln Pro Baseball (LPB) each contributed approximately ten million dollars. NU and LPB signed a thirty-five year lease with no charged property tax or insurance fees and are jointly responsible for facility maintenance. Prior to the completion of Hawks Field, LPB facilitated the purchase of the
Madison Black Wolf, a
Northern League club from
Madison, Wisconsin. The Saltdogs have won their league's "Playing Surface of the Year" in each season of competition (the Northern League from 2001 to 2005 and the
American Association of Professional Baseball since). ==Other events==