Major League Baseball and Universal Pictures have announced that the Field of Dreams event will return in 2022 following the success of the inaugural game earlier this month.
The Cincinnati Reds will face off against the Chicago Cubs on August 11 next year at a temporary ballpark in Dyersville, Iowa, which staged the first event 11 days ago.
The event earlier this month marked the first major-league game ever played in the state of Iowa. The Field of Dreams event was held at the tourist destination made famous by the eponymous movie.
Since 1989, the Lansing Family Farm, which was used in the Universal Pictures movie, has been a popular tourist attraction, and is now known as the Field of Dreams Movie Site. In 2011, the field was purchased by Denise Stillman and a group of investors with the goal of preserving the Field of Dreams and creating a special place for baseball fans, tournament players and families.
Stillman, who passed away in 2018, began working with MLB in 2015 and the first Field of Dreams event had originally been scheduled for August 13 last year before it was postponed due to COVID-19.
MLB appointed BaAM Productions, Populous and BrightView to deliver the 8,000-stadium project for this year’s event. The game featured a corn maze located beyond the right field fence, near the Field of Dreams Movie Site, which formed part of an immersive fan experience.
The inaugural game was watched by nearly six million people on Fox, which will also provide exclusive coverage of next year’s event. The game will serve as a home fixture for the Reds.
Field of Dreams stars Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones and Amy Madigan. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1990 and tells the story of Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella, a husband and father who is tending to his cornfield when he hears a mysterious voice intone, “If you build it, he will come”.
According to the American Film Institute (AFI), those words are the 39th top film quote of all-time.
Image: MLB Photos
