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2024 – 2026
The project: On September 10, 2024, the city and the club broke ground on a $48 million renovation of the city-owned stadium, designed by Populous — the largest in the park's history. Funding runs through the state's Professional Sports and Convention Development Agreement tax capture for South Bend, enacted in amended Senate Bill 326 in May 2023; Berlin has put $32 million of his own money into improvements in and around the stadium.
The build: For the 2025 season the park received a new playing surface, new seating and new protective netting — the surface replacing the turf Berlin had installed in 2014 as part of the agreement that landed the Cubs affiliation. For 2026 came the second deck: the renovated Four Winds Field that opened on April 3, 2026 seats nearly 10,500, against the roughly 5,000 of the 1988 original.
The 2026 season: The club's thirty-eighth Midwest League season was its best in years. South Bend won its 2,500th game as a franchise on April 8, 2026, at Peoria; clinched the first-half West Division championship on June 13 — its first first-half title since 2016 — and finished with the league's best record at 77–51. Attendance reached 314,301, the ninth season over 300,000 since 2015, and the September 10 playoff game at Four Winds Field drew 6,039, the largest postseason crowd in club history. The season ended there: Quad Cities took the West Division series, two games to none. The Cubs open the 2027 season on the road at Quad Cities on April 2, 2027.
Sources:
- MiLB, groundbreaking release, September 10, 2024 — the $48 million project, the city ownership, the 2014 turf replacement.
- South Bend Tribune, March 27, 2026 — $48 million over 17 months; the upper level seating nearly 10,500; Berlin's $32 million; the PSCDA funding under amended Senate Bill 326.
- MiLB, South Bend Cubs 2026 attendance and season releases, September 2026 — 77–51, the first-half title, 314,301 attendance, the 6,039 postseason crowd, the division-series end, the 2,500th franchise win.