ForeFront Field in Avon is swapping bats and gloves for bulls and broncos this weekend, as the Lake Erie Crushers' home ballpark hosts a rodeo for the first time in its history. The two-night event, called Bulls in the Ballpark, runs Friday and Saturday and will bring more than 80 animals into the 5,000-seat stadium along Interstate 90.
Crews have covered the field with roughly 15 football fields' worth of dirt to convert the baseball diamond into a working rodeo arena, according to the Lake Erie Crushers. The rodeo is produced in partnership with TK Pro Rodeo, a stock contracting outfit based in Jay, Oklahoma, that has been voted Stock Contractor of the Year three years running and Best Rodeo of the Year by American Cowboys Rodeo Association contestants, per the same team.
Gates open at 4:30 p.m. both nights, with a pre-show barbecue pig roast and a live DJ setting the tone before the main rodeo action begins at 7 p.m. The event will feature bull riding, roping and horses, as reported by News 5 Cleveland WEWS. A bar will also be on site for the two-night run.
Community Response And Ticket Details
Community response to the rodeo has been strong, per the station's report. Tracy Marek, chief marketing officer at ForeFront Field, told News 5 Cleveland WEWS that fans hoping to eat should plan ahead, advising people to obtain barbecue tickets through lakeeriecrushers.com since the pig roast requires advance purchase. General rodeo tickets are also available through the same site.
Marek said ForeFront Field is about community, and that the venue focuses on bringing diverse events to Lorain County. The goal, per her comments to the outlet, is to create family events and opportunities for people to spend time together.
A Stadium Built For More Than Baseball
The rodeo is the latest step in a broader transformation of the ballpark, which opened in June 2009 as All Pro Freight Stadium and cost $12.1 million to build, according to Wikipedia. The Lake Erie Crushers, an independent professional team in the MLB-partnered Frontier League, won the league championship in their inaugural season at the venue. The stadium has also been known as Sprenger Stadium and Mercy Health Stadium before Cleveland-based managed technology firm ForeFront Technology acquired naming rights in November 2025, rebranding it ForeFront Field, as reported by the Chronicle Telegram.
Stadium leadership marked that partnership with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in April 2026 showcasing upgraded concourses, hospitality areas and Cisco Smart Stadium Wi-Fi infrastructure, according to the Crushers. Those improvements were designed to help the ballpark host events well beyond baseball season, and by 2026 the venue had expanded its calendar to more than 200 public and private events, positioning it as the busiest minor league baseball facility in Ohio, per Destination Cleveland.
From Christian Music To MMA To Semi-Pro Soccer
ForeFront Field's non-baseball resume already includes The FEST, Northeast Ohio's long-running Christian music festival, which relocated from Wickliffe to Avon in a move Hoodline covered to take advantage of the ballpark's permanent seating; that event capped attendance at 10,000 to keep a family-friendly atmosphere. The stadium also served as an outdoor combat sports venue over the summer, hosting a three-event mixed martial arts series produced by Legends Fight Series that included North Ridgeville fighter Drew Dickson's return to the sport after a four-year layoff.
The ballpark expanded its permanent athletic roster too, becoming the home field for Lorain County Leviathan FC, an expansion franchise in USL League Two and the county's first club in that league, according to the Chronicle Telegram. Lake Erie Crushers ownership is led by Chairman and Managing Partner Len Komoroski, who also serves as senior advisor to Rock Entertainment Group, the umbrella that manages Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Visitors heading to the rodeo should note that Avon Road near Nagel Road, a key corridor leading toward the stadium, was reduced to one lane starting in August 2025 for water line installations, a project Hoodline reported on at the time. ForeFront Field sits at 2009 Baseball Boulevard near Interstate 90 in Avon. It remains to be seen how quickly crews can restore the playing surface once the rodeo's dirt comes out, but for now, Bulls in the Ballpark marks one of the venue's most ambitious physical conversions yet.
