Boardwalk and Baseball was a theme park built near Haines City, Florida, at the southeast corner of the Interstate 4-US 27 interchange.
[citation needed] In addition, ESPN taped a quiz bowl-style game show, Boardwalk and Baseball's Super Bowl of Sports Trivia, on the site which aired in 1988 and 1989.
Industry observers were proved correct, as the project was quickly falling into financial ruin within 18 months of its grand opening, at which point, employee layoffs and reduced hours were used to try to cut costs.
To further limit expenses, the park closed before sunset for almost the entire year, rendering its antique style gas lighting (that cost over $1 million to install) useless.
[5] The Class A Florida State League Royal affiliate was purchased by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in early 1987 with the team to move here.
[1] Baseball City Stadium opened for its first event, the seventh annual Pizza Hut All-Star Softball game, on February 7, 1988 and televised live on NBC.
The Kansas City Royals moved their spring training home and entire Florida operations department to Surprise, Arizona in 2003.
The show was hosted by Chris Berman and featured single-elimination tournaments of three-person teams representing U.S. colleges and universities.