If you have ever watched the 1989 movie Field of Dreams and felt something catch in your chest when Kevin Costner walks out of the cornfield and sees his father standing at home plate — you already understand why this place matters. The Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa is not just a movie set. It is one of the most emotionally powerful pieces of land in all of American sports culture. And right now, in August 2026, the site is hosting its third MLB game in history — the Philadelphia Phillies vs. the Minnesota Twins on August 13, 2026 — after completing an $80 million renovation that has transformed it from a nostalgic tourist stop into a world-class sports destination.
But who actually owns all of this? The answer runs through a farming family, a Chicago real estate developer, a Baseball Hall of Famer, and an Iowa-based nonprofit that bought the site for $27 million and has pledged to keep it in Iowan hands forever.
What Is the Field of Dreams?
Universal Pictures built the baseball diamond in 1988 on two farms a few miles outside Dyersville, Iowa, for the 1989 film Field of Dreams. When production completed, the baseball diamond created for the movie was left behind. Most of the baseball field, including the diamond and the adjacent house, was on a farm owned by Don and Becky Lansing. Don’s grandparents purchased the farm in 1906.
After the movie became a massive hit, the site turned into an unexpected tourist magnet. Thousands of fans from across America and around the world began making pilgrimages to a small Iowa cornfield just to stand on that baseball diamond, run through the corn, and feel something they could not quite put into words. What had been a working farm became one of the most visited tourist attractions in the entire Midwest.
Today, the Field of Dreams Movie Site is a 297-acre destination in Dyersville, Iowa, hosting MLB games, major concerts, youth baseball tournaments, and a growing list of events expected to generate at least $40 million in local economic activity in 2026 alone.
Who Owns the Field of Dreams Right Now in 2026?
The current owner of the Field of Dreams is Dyersville Events Inc. — an Iowa-based nonprofit organization headquartered in Dyersville itself.
The Field of Dreams Movie Site has been sold by Go the Distance Baseball to Dyersville Events Inc. The sale ensures the property will remain “in the hands of Iowans in perpetuity” under the stewardship of a Dyersville, Iowa-based nonprofit organization.
Dyersville Events Inc. bought the site from its former ownership group, Go the Distance Baseball. The Dyersville-based nonprofit paid $27 million for the acquisition, most of which came from a state grant from the state of Iowa.
The president of Dyersville Events Inc. is Mike Decker, who has described the current moment as a “transformational” chapter in the site’s history. The nonprofit model means no single private investor profits from the land — every dollar generated goes back into preserving and expanding the site for future generations.
Field of Dreams Ownership Table
| Owner / Party | Role | Period | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Don & Becky Lansing (Lansing Family) | Original Landowners | 1906 – 2011 | Family owned the farm since 1906; hosted movie filming in 1988 |
| Rita Ameskamp | Second Farm Owner | Until 2007 | Owned a portion of the baseball field; sold to Lansings in August 2007 |
| Denise Stillman / Go the Distance Baseball LLC | First Commercial Owners | 2011 – 2021 | Bought the site in 2011 to preserve it; first to pursue MLB game vision |
| Frank Thomas & Rick Heidner (This Is Heaven LLC) | Controlling Interest Owners | 2021 – 2024 | Hall of Famer Frank Thomas led purchase; oversaw $80M expansion plans |
| Go the Distance Baseball (combined) | Development Entity | 2011 – 2024 | Held overall site ownership through various investor changes |
| Dyersville Events Inc. | Current Owner (nonprofit) | September 2024 – Present | Iowa-based nonprofit; paid $27M funded largely by Iowa state grant |
| State of Iowa | Primary Funder | 2024 – Present | Provided the majority of the $27M acquisition funding via state grant |
| Major League Baseball | Event Organizer | 2021, 2022, 2026 | Organizes the MLB at Field of Dreams game; no ownership stake |
| Universal Pictures | Intellectual Property Owner | 1989 – Present | Owns the Field of Dreams film IP; Field of Dreams © Universal City Studios LLC |
The Lansing Family: Where It All Started
The ownership story of Field of Dreams begins not with a corporation but with a farming family that had worked the same Iowa soil for over a century.
Don Lansing’s grandparents purchased the farm in 1906. He said the film’s producers knocked on his door and asked him if he would permit the filming of a movie on his property. “They caught me totally off guard. Everything happened real fast.”
When Universal Pictures finished filming in 1988, they left the diamond behind — and the Lansing family suddenly found themselves caretakers of a piece of American cultural history. Fans started showing up almost immediately after the movie released. The family opened the site to visitors and let people walk the bases, run through the corn, and have a catch on the same field where Kevin Costner had filmed some of the most beloved scenes in American cinema.
In August 2007, Rita Ameskamp — who had owned a neighboring portion of the baseball field — sold her land to Don and Becky Lansing. As a result, the movie site was, for the first time, entirely owned by the Lansing family.
The Lansings held the site for a few more years before selling it to the first commercial ownership group in 2011.
Denise Stillman and Go the Distance Baseball: The Vision Begins
The person who first saw the Field of Dreams not just as a tourist attraction but as a potential MLB game venue was a Chicago real estate developer named Denise Stillman.
In 2011, Stillman and a group of investors purchased the field and the adjacent Lansing Family farm to preserve the Field of Dreams and create a unique destination for baseball fans, tournament players, and families. She founded Go the Distance Baseball LLC to manage and develop the site.
Most remarkably, Stillman became the driving force behind the idea of hosting an actual MLB game at the Field of Dreams — an idea that at the time seemed almost impossibly romantic. She spent years pitching the concept to Major League Baseball before passing away in 2018 at the age of 46, never seeing her dream become reality.
But she had planted the seed. And others would see it through.
Frank Thomas Takes Over: The Hall of Famer Buys In
With Stillman gone, the future of Go the Distance Baseball and the Field of Dreams needed new leadership. And in 2021, it arrived in the form of one of the greatest sluggers in the history of the game.
Former Chicago White Sox player and Hall of Famer Frank Thomas purchased the controlling stakes to the Field of Dreams movie site and ballpark in eastern Iowa. Thomas, along with real estate developer Rick Heidner, purchased all of the interest owned by Denise Stillman’s estate from This is Heaven, LLC.
Thomas served as CEO of Go the Distance Baseball and former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Dan Evans served as COO. In a statement, Thomas said: “We are excited to lead the future development and expansion of the Field of Dreams in a collaborative spirit with our neighbors and government officials.”
Thomas arrived just in time to see Denise Stillman’s dream finally come true. In August 2021, the Chicago White Sox beat the New York Yankees in the very first MLB at Field of Dreams game — a breathtaking 9–8 walk-off win that was broadcast nationally and watched by millions. The Field of Dreams had officially gone from a movie set to a living baseball venue.
A second MLB game followed in August 2022, when the Chicago Cubs defeated the Cincinnati Reds. The site was on its way.
The $80 Million Transformation
With MLB games proving that the concept worked, the ownership group — still under the Go the Distance Baseball umbrella — unveiled one of the most ambitious expansion plans in the history of American sports tourism.
A massive $80 million makeover at the Field of Dreams movie site in Iowa got underway. The project added nearly 100 acres to the existing 190-acre site, with plans including nine ball fields for youth baseball and softball, a 100,000-square-foot fieldhouse, a 104-room boutique hotel, an RV park, a concert amphitheater, jogging trails through the cornfields, and a park designed to be inclusive for children and adults with disabilities.
The scale of this expansion meant no MLB game could be played at the site in 2023, 2024, or 2025 — a pause that Frank Thomas himself addressed publicly, noting that MLB would not return until the stadium was ready.
Dyersville Events Inc.: The New Era of Local Ownership
In September 2024, everything changed again — this time in a direction that felt deeply right for a place like the Field of Dreams.
The sale ensures the property will remain “in the hands of Iowans in perpetuity” under the stewardship of a Dyersville, Iowa-based nonprofit organization — Dyersville Events Inc.
Mike Decker, president of the board for Dyersville Events Inc., said: “This moment represents the kind of leadership and belief that makes transformational projects possible.”
The transition to nonprofit ownership means the Field of Dreams will never again be purely a private investment. Any revenue generated by the site — from MLB games, concerts, youth tournaments, or the hotel — will be reinvested into the site itself and into the Dyersville community.
Adding to this, three Iowa families and business leaders committed $10 million to support ongoing and future development at the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville in 2026. Andy and Debi Butler, Craig and Lisa Breitbach, and McCoy Group made the collective commitment and will be honored as Legacy Partners.
What Is Happening at Field of Dreams in 2026?
The Field of Dreams in 2026 is the busiest and most ambitious version of itself in history.
The Field of Dreams in Dyersville completed a major renovation and is ready to host its next event, with upgrades that include inground dugouts, locker rooms, a video board, a press box, and permanent water and sewer infrastructure. Construction began in the fall of 2024. BrightView Landscapes oversaw the project, which transformed the site from a movie-set destination into a facility capable of hosting professional baseball on a recurring basis.
On August 13, 2026, Major League Baseball returns to the site for the third time — the Minnesota Twins facing the Philadelphia Phillies in a game broadcast live on Netflix. The Northwoods League All-Star Game was also held at the newly constructed ballpark on July 8, 2026.
A Labor Day weekend concert series featuring Shinedown, Carrie Underwood, and Creed is planned, along with expanded youth baseball and softball tournaments. Events in 2026 are expected to generate at least $40 million in local economic activity for the Dyersville area.
Who Owns the Field of Dreams Movie — Universal Pictures
One important ownership distinction is worth understanding clearly: Dyersville Events Inc. owns the physical land and site. But the intellectual property of the Field of Dreams film — the story, the characters, the screenplay — belongs to Universal Pictures.
Field of Dreams © Universal City Studios LLC.
That is why every MLB at Field of Dreams broadcast, every official promotion, and every licensed product carries a Universal copyright notice. The two ownership layers — the land and the film rights — are completely separate, held by completely different entities.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Who owns the Field of Dreams in 2026?
The Field of Dreams is owned by Dyersville Events Inc., an Iowa-based nonprofit that purchased the site in September 2024 for $27 million.
Q2. Did Frank Thomas own the Field of Dreams?
Yes. Frank Thomas led the purchase of a controlling interest in Go the Distance Baseball in 2021 and served as CEO of the ownership group until the 2024 sale to Dyersville Events Inc.
Q3. How much did Dyersville Events Inc. pay for the Field of Dreams? Dyersville Events Inc. paid $27 million for the site, with most of the funding coming from a state of Iowa grant.
Q4. When was the Field of Dreams movie site built?
Universal Pictures built the baseball diamond in 1988 on the Lansing family farm outside Dyersville, Iowa, for the 1989 film Field of Dreams.
Q5. Is there an MLB game at Field of Dreams in 2026?
Yes. The Philadelphia Phillies face the Minnesota Twins on August 13, 2026 — the third MLB at Field of Dreams game ever, broadcast live on Netflix.
Q6. Who owns the Field of Dreams movie rights?
The Field of Dreams film intellectual property is owned by Universal City Studios LLC (Universal Pictures), separate from the physical land ownership.
Q7. What is the $80 million project at Field of Dreams?
An $80 million expansion added youth baseball and softball fields, a fieldhouse, a boutique hotel, an amphitheater, and permanent stadium infrastructure to the 297-acre site.
Q8. Will the Field of Dreams ever be sold again?
Dyersville Events Inc. has pledged to keep the site “in the hands of Iowans in perpetuity” — meaning it intends to permanently preserve it as a community-owned nonprofit asset.
The Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa is currently owned by Dyersville Events Inc., an Iowa-based nonprofit that purchased the site in September 2024 from Go the Distance Baseball for $27 million, funded largely by a grant from the state of Iowa. The nonprofit has pledged to keep the land “in the hands of Iowans in perpetuity.”
The site has passed through remarkable hands to get here — from the Lansing farming family who hosted the original 1989 movie filming, to Denise Stillman who dreamed of an MLB game on this cornfield, to Hall of Famer Frank Thomas who helped make that dream real, to the Iowa nonprofit now building something that will last for generations.
On August 13, 2026, the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins are playing the third MLB at Field of Dreams game ever — broadcast on Netflix — as the newly renovated site reopens to professional baseball for the first time since 2022. “If you build it, they will come.” They built it. They are coming.
