The area immediately surrounding the stadium is being developed into Hokkaido Ballpark F Village, an entertainment district that holds commercial facilities and restaurants.

[2] In early 2016, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team, began considering constructing a new stadium in or around Sapporo.

[5] The high rental fees, loss of in-stadium sales revenue, and inflexibility of a multi-purpose facility all contributed to Nippon Ham's decision to explore building their own stadium.

[6] NPB set up a task force in collaboration with Nippon Ham in December 2016 to advance the new stadium project and develop a firm plan by March 2018.

It offered up 20 of the 36 hectares at its "Kitahiroshima Sports Park" site for a natural grass, retractable roof baseball stadium capable of seating 30,000 people.

After Nippon Ham continued to pursue new construction and with Kitahiroshima quickly offering up a plan, however, the city looked for suitable sites for a new stadium to avoid the prospect of the team leaving.

[5] Concerns regarding the conservation of Makomanai Park's natural environment and opposition from local residents played a part in the decision not to redevelop the area.

[5][13] The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Major League Baseball's (MLB) Texas Rangers announced a partnership agreement in early 2018.

At the time, the Rangers were constructing a new ballpark, Globe Life Field, and they advised the Fighters on their plans to build their new stadium in Hokkaido.

Owned and operated by Nippon Ham, the ballpark was designed by Obayashi and architecture firm HKS, the architect of Globe Life Field, and its construction was estimated to cost ¥60 billion ($530 million in 2018).

[22] When designing the Es Con Field, Fighters executives saw a trend internationally that combined sports venues with other forms of entertainment to increase their overall social impact.

[15] The retractable roof, only the second in Japan other than Fukuoka PayPay Dome, and the 70 metres (230 ft)-high glass wall on the outfield-side of the stadium allow light in to help to support the natural grass.

[19][15] The 166 metres (545 ft)-wide movable roof is one of the largest in the world and was specifically designed to withstand the weight of snow and extreme temperature differences.

[19][20] The field is asymmetrical unlike most other NPB ballparks was an important starting design point for the stadium, according to Ken Maesawa, director and general manager of Fighters Sports & Entertainment.

Truist Park in Georgia served as a reference develop a complex of commercial and residential facilities to create a sports community around the stadium.

The concept of dividing the district into areas for casual and serious baseball fans was inspired by Busch Stadium's St. Louis Ballpark Village in St.

[32] The Fighters’ stadium is also expected to have parking for 3,000 to 4,000 vehicles, unusual for ballparks in Japan which generally rely solely on public transportation.