Originally posted by the Star Telegram
‘Ready for a suntan’
It’s not as if the Rangers have to put a roof over their fans’ heads to get people to come to the ballpark. Attendance has been just under or exceeded 3 million each of the last three seasons.
The ballpark had eight Sunday afternoon games from June through September last year, and only once did the temperature top 100, on Sept. 1 against Minnesota. It was 104 that day, and the Rangers drew 36,549 fans, slightly below their season average.
Overall for those eight games, the average high was 92.5 degrees — not so bad, huh? — while the average attendance was 40,983, more than 2,200 above the season average. The entire season saw only five home games where the high temperature that day was at least 100.
Longtime Rangers fan Ruben Velez doesn’t let the heat keep him from driving from Duncanville to watch his favorite team from his seats behind the visitors dugout.
“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” said Velez, who attends about 40 home games a season. “It gets extremely hot out there in the middle of summer. I go to Sunday afternoon games. The sun is sitting right on top of me. I go out there with a tank top ready for a suntan.”
While he doesn’t mind a little sweat, Velez, 31, said he is grateful that he can take his 7-year-old son into the air-conditioned Kids Zone for a break.
Still, that hasn’t stopped the Rangers from considering adding a retractable roof.
When Tom Hicks was an owner, the team commissioned an architectural study in 2007 to draw up schematics for a retractable roof, Matwick said. He could not recall a cost estimate, but clearly the owners decided not to move forward with the idea.
“You want the ballpark to be an enjoyable experience. We battle that. Do you want to leave your home, your TV, your family to sit at the ballpark if you are not going to have an enjoyable experience?” Matwick said. “Winning baseball helps a lot. We think there are a lot of reasons for you to come to the ballpark. But anytime you get into a two-hour or four-hour rain delay, it would be nice if you don’t have to worry about that.
“It’s up to ownership to determine if it’s cost-prohibitive,” he said. “There is nothing that is not possible. It has to make sense.”
The Rangers haven’t always been interested in a roof, said Tom Schieffer, who was the club president and part of the ownership group with George W. Bush as the ballpark was being built.
“We had that conversation. It was beyond the means of anyone to do it then,” said Schieffer, who was introduced as the newest member of the Rangers Hall of Fame last week. “But the fact of the matter is that George W. Bush and I did not want that.”
Some players, including shortstop Elvis Andrus, say they wouldn’t mind a roof these days, though.
“Oh, hell yeah,” Andrus said. “It would help my legs and help you feel better, especially during the summer. It gets so hot that you have to maintain good shape. It won’t kill me, but for sure you have to maintain taking care of your body really well.”
But pitcher Colby Lewis thinks playing in an open-air stadium might benefit the Rangers more than teams who are used to cooler climes.
“I think it plays into our favor in the summertime. We’re able to make that adjustment and know how to hydrate, and these guys that aren’t used to playing in it, it’s definitely a lot rougher for them,” Lewis said.
“I’ve seen guys in the past that have come from cooler climates or pitched in a dome and it comes to be four or five innings and they’re smoked already.”
‘Part of our identity’
Only six of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums have retractable roofs — Safeco Field in Seattle and Minute Maid Park in Houston among them — and those are in cities with extreme weather.
The Atlanta Braves announced last year that they will leave Turner Field at the end of their lease with Cobb County in 2016 and build a new ballpark on land in unincorporated Atlanta, according to media reports. The new ballpark, projected to cost $672 million with public-private financing, will have a 90-foot roof providing shade for seating, initial drawings show.
The Rangers are still acquiring land around the ballpark. This year, the team bought the 17.6-acre Stonegate Pines mobile-home park south of the stadium. The Rangers have no immediate plans for the property, though it could be used for parking one day, team spokesman John Blake said.
Rawlings said the bottom line will drive whatever decision is made about the Rangers’ future home.
“The thing that citizens ultimately have to understand is that baseball is a financial proposition. They are running a business. While it’s a mythic symbol for us in DFW, it’s also a business,” Rawlings said.
“Those owners are going to do the right thing by their balance sheets, and they are going to do the right thing by the fans. They want more fans. They want more sponsorship. They want more season tickets sold,” he said. “That will drive the decisions that those owners make.”
But many say they can’t — or don’t want to — imagine Arlington without a Major League Baseball team.
“The Texas Rangers are part of the fabric of Arlington. They are a huge part of our identity,” said Arlington Councilman Robert Rivera, who served on the Home Run Arlington Committee, which worked to pass the ballpark sales tax in 1991.
“The Texas Rangers have been at the forefront of putting Arlington on the national stage. In all 162 games that are played, Arlington has been mentioned in every game over 40 years. That type of name ID and repetition is invaluable.”
Staff writer Jeff Wilson contributed to this report, which includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
It’s not as if the Rangers have to put a roof over their fans’ heads to get people to come to the ballpark. Attendance has been just under or exceeded 3 million each of the last three seasons.
The ballpark had eight Sunday afternoon games from June through September last year, and only once did the temperature top 100, on Sept. 1 against Minnesota. It was 104 that day, and the Rangers drew 36,549 fans, slightly below their season average.
Overall for those eight games, the average high was 92.5 degrees — not so bad, huh? — while the average attendance was 40,983, more than 2,200 above the season average. The entire season saw only five home games where the high temperature that day was at least 100.
Longtime Rangers fan Ruben Velez doesn’t let the heat keep him from driving from Duncanville to watch his favorite team from his seats behind the visitors dugout.
“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” said Velez, who attends about 40 home games a season. “It gets extremely hot out there in the middle of summer. I go to Sunday afternoon games. The sun is sitting right on top of me. I go out there with a tank top ready for a suntan.”
While he doesn’t mind a little sweat, Velez, 31, said he is grateful that he can take his 7-year-old son into the air-conditioned Kids Zone for a break.
Still, that hasn’t stopped the Rangers from considering adding a retractable roof.
When Tom Hicks was an owner, the team commissioned an architectural study in 2007 to draw up schematics for a retractable roof, Matwick said. He could not recall a cost estimate, but clearly the owners decided not to move forward with the idea.
“You want the ballpark to be an enjoyable experience. We battle that. Do you want to leave your home, your TV, your family to sit at the ballpark if you are not going to have an enjoyable experience?” Matwick said. “Winning baseball helps a lot. We think there are a lot of reasons for you to come to the ballpark. But anytime you get into a two-hour or four-hour rain delay, it would be nice if you don’t have to worry about that.
“It’s up to ownership to determine if it’s cost-prohibitive,” he said. “There is nothing that is not possible. It has to make sense.”
The Rangers haven’t always been interested in a roof, said Tom Schieffer, who was the club president and part of the ownership group with George W. Bush as the ballpark was being built.
“We had that conversation. It was beyond the means of anyone to do it then,” said Schieffer, who was introduced as the newest member of the Rangers Hall of Fame last week. “But the fact of the matter is that George W. Bush and I did not want that.”
Some players, including shortstop Elvis Andrus, say they wouldn’t mind a roof these days, though.
“Oh, hell yeah,” Andrus said. “It would help my legs and help you feel better, especially during the summer. It gets so hot that you have to maintain good shape. It won’t kill me, but for sure you have to maintain taking care of your body really well.”
But pitcher Colby Lewis thinks playing in an open-air stadium might benefit the Rangers more than teams who are used to cooler climes.
“I think it plays into our favor in the summertime. We’re able to make that adjustment and know how to hydrate, and these guys that aren’t used to playing in it, it’s definitely a lot rougher for them,” Lewis said.
“I’ve seen guys in the past that have come from cooler climates or pitched in a dome and it comes to be four or five innings and they’re smoked already.”
‘Part of our identity’
Only six of the 30 Major League Baseball stadiums have retractable roofs — Safeco Field in Seattle and Minute Maid Park in Houston among them — and those are in cities with extreme weather.
The Atlanta Braves announced last year that they will leave Turner Field at the end of their lease with Cobb County in 2016 and build a new ballpark on land in unincorporated Atlanta, according to media reports. The new ballpark, projected to cost $672 million with public-private financing, will have a 90-foot roof providing shade for seating, initial drawings show.
The Rangers are still acquiring land around the ballpark. This year, the team bought the 17.6-acre Stonegate Pines mobile-home park south of the stadium. The Rangers have no immediate plans for the property, though it could be used for parking one day, team spokesman John Blake said.
Rawlings said the bottom line will drive whatever decision is made about the Rangers’ future home.
“The thing that citizens ultimately have to understand is that baseball is a financial proposition. They are running a business. While it’s a mythic symbol for us in DFW, it’s also a business,” Rawlings said.
“Those owners are going to do the right thing by their balance sheets, and they are going to do the right thing by the fans. They want more fans. They want more sponsorship. They want more season tickets sold,” he said. “That will drive the decisions that those owners make.”
But many say they can’t — or don’t want to — imagine Arlington without a Major League Baseball team.
“The Texas Rangers are part of the fabric of Arlington. They are a huge part of our identity,” said Arlington Councilman Robert Rivera, who served on the Home Run Arlington Committee, which worked to pass the ballpark sales tax in 1991.
“The Texas Rangers have been at the forefront of putting Arlington on the national stage. In all 162 games that are played, Arlington has been mentioned in every game over 40 years. That type of name ID and repetition is invaluable.”
Staff writer Jeff Wilson contributed to this report, which includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
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