The game is set for August 13, 2020 in Dyersville, Iowa, which neighbors the iconic movie location—about 200 miles west of Chicago. A temporary 8,000-seat stadium will be built on the grounds to accommodate the first major-league game ever played in the state. The game will be nationally televised on FOX.
Released in 1989, Field of Dreams starred Kevin Costner as an Iowa farmer who builds a baseball diamond in his cornfield after hearing a mysterious voice intone, “If you build it, he will come.”
According to the American Film Institute, that phrase is the 39th top film quote of all-time.
A pathway through a cornfield will take fans to the ballpark, which will overlook the famous movie location. The right field wall will have windows to show the cornfields beyond the ballpark, according to CNN. Aspects of the ballpark’s design will also pay homage to Chicago’s Comiskey Park.
A video tweeted by MLB shows Yankees star Aaron Judge asking Ray Kinsella, Kevin Costner’s character in the movie, if he was in heaven. Costner replies with one of the movie’s other iconic lines: “No, it’s Iowa.”
“As a sport that is proud of its history linking generations, Major League Baseball is excited to bring a regular season game to the site of Field of Dreams,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a press release. “We look forward to celebrating the movie’s enduring message of how baseball brings people together at this special cornfield in Iowa.”
“It seems very fitting that 30 years after the film’s debut, MLB will build a ballfield in an Iowa cornfield where we will come to play a game so that baseball fans can create their own memories to be cherished for decades,” Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the White Sox, said in statement on Thursday.
Hal Steinbrenner, managing general partner of the Yankees, told Bloomberg the team is “proud to participate in such a unique celebration of baseball. ‘Field of Dreams’ captures the pure essence of baseball.”
The MLB also tweeted a video rendering of what the field will look like in 2020:
“MLB at Field of Dreams” will be presented by GEICO as part of the GEICO Summer Series, and the event will be considered a White Sox home game.