Baseball The stadium is named for the longtime mayor of Huntsville,
Joe W. Davis, who was instrumental in the city's efforts to construct the stadium. Construction came about in 1984 after
Nashville Sounds owner Larry Schmittou purchased the
Evansville Triplets with the intent of moving the team in 1985 to
Nashville, Tennessee, to effectively elevate his
Double-A Sounds to the
Triple-A level. As a result of this move, the existing Double-A franchise would need a new home. Schmittou considered a swap that would have sent the Double-A team to
Evansville, Indiana to replace the Triplets. Evansville city leaders, though, balked at the requested stadium upgrades, leading Schmittou to seek alternate arrangements, which resulted in him moving the franchise to Huntsville, only some 100 miles away from Nashville. The team became known as the Huntsville Stars, and Schmittou continued to own the franchise until selling it to a local ownership group in 1994. The first game was held on April 19, 1985. The Stars defeated the
Birmingham Barons 10–0 in a game that included a
grand slam from future major-leaguer
Jose Canseco. On July 10, 1991, the ballpark hosted the first
Double-A All-Star Game. A team of
American League-affiliated All-Stars defeated a team of
National League–affiliated All-Stars 8–2 in front of a crowd of 4,022. In the mid-2000s, with the stadium approaching two decades in service, renovations began on the stadium, including the replacement of all the stadium's box seats. In 2004, Joe Davis Stadium's current
scoreboard, a 36-by-48-
foot scoreboard complete with
LED numbering and a 12-by-18-foot videoboard, was installed. In 2014, the Stars were sold to an ownership group with the intent of relocating the franchise to
Biloxi, Mississippi, at the end of the season. The sale followed years of failed attempts to secure a new ballpark for the team in Huntsville. However, due to construction delays preventing the
new Biloxi stadium from being completed in time for the Southern League's 2015 opening day, and because the franchise was still operating under a lease to use Joe Davis Stadium, the newly christened
Biloxi Shuckers were forced to play 15 of its first 25 scheduled home games in Huntsville, with sparse attendance. Soon after, the Huntsville city administrator said that the stadium would be razed later in 2015, In November 2019, the City of Huntsville began implementing plans to renovate the stadium into a multi-use facility, awarding an architectural contract for the design and construction documents needed to put the project out for bid. Southern League baseball eventually would return to the Huntsville market in the form of the
Rocket City Trash Pandas, which began play at the newly-constructed
Toyota Field in
Madison, Alabama in 2021.
Soccer Renovations to Joe Davis Stadium were completed in spring 2023. The project reduced the stadium's capacity from over 10,000 to 6,000, mostly through removing seats closest to the playing field. Additional bleacher seating was added in what was formerly the outfield, giving the stadium a more conventional rectangular configuration for soccer and football. Total costs of the stadium's renovation were reported as being $29 million. Upon the completion of renovations to turn the ballpark into a
soccer field, it became the home of
Huntsville City FC, the
MLS Next Pro affiliate of
Major League Soccer's
Nashville SC. On May 19, 2023, the stadium hosted its first
soccer game, in which Huntsville City FC beat
Crown Legacy FC, 2–1. This match was also Huntsville City FC's first-ever regulation win, as all their victories prior had been after
penalty kicks, which (in accordance with MLS Next Pro rules) results in two points instead of three. The stadium hosted its first college soccer game on August 18, 2024, as the
North Alabama Lions women's soccer team took on the
Jacksonville State Gamecocks in a neutral site matchup. The Gamecocks defeated the Lions, 5–0. On September 4, 2024, Huntsville City FC will play an exhibition match at the stadium against their parent club, Nashville SC. This will be the first time a major league team has played in Huntsville since the
Milwaukee Brewers played against the Huntsville Stars in 1999.
Football In February 2025, it was announced that
St. John Paul II Catholic High School's football team would play their home games at Joe Davis Stadium beginning in 2025. ==Field diagram==