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Texas AirHogs drop out of American Association, closing Grand Prairie chapter
The Texas AirHogs ended their American Association tenure on Oct. 23, 2020, terminating membership effective immediately and bringing Grand Prairie’s independent-league era to a close [1]. The franchise’s roots stretched back to 2008 [2], anchored at QuikTrip Park—better known locally as AirHogs Stadium—where crowds in the mid‑5,000s packed in on summer nights [3]. The high-water mark came with the 2011 American Association championship, a banner season that put the club firmly on the league map [2].The path wound through a unique set of chapters: in 2016, the club merged operations with the Amarillo Thunderheads for a one-year split schedule before returning full-time to Grand Prairie, and in 2018 a partnership placed Chinese national-team players on the roster as part of a development initiative [2,4]. The 2020 departure from the league closed a 13-season run of North Texas baseball at AirHogs Stadium [1,2].