Q & A: globe life field
Rob Matwick
The Texas Rangers hosted a Q&A
for fans in May about construction
of the $1.1 billion, retractable-roof
Globe Life Field in Arlington.
Rob Matwick, Texas Rangers vice president of business
operations, and Jack Hill, senior vice president of project
development, answered all the questions surrounding
the construction of the ballpark, which is set to open
just south of the current Globe Life Park in 2020. The
ballpark, which will have approximately 40,000 seats,
will include a retractable roof for climate control and
shelter for fans during the hot summer months.
Here’s a recap of those questions:
Q: Is excavation still going on?
A: Excavation is pretty much complete. You’ll see a dirt
pile, but they are going to use that back into the site.
There will be more truck loads removed from Texas Live!,
but the majority of excavation was completed earlier
this year.
Q: When will we see progress at ground
level?
A: In a little less than a month you’ll start to see some
steel columns going up.
Q: How many people are working on
Globe Life Field?
A: On site we have about 500 workers, today. Those
numbers will grow as construction progresses, growing
toward 1,500 workers on-site.
Q: Will the stadium feel open, even when
the roof is closed?
A: The stadium will feel very open. You can tell from
the renderings how much glass is anticipated at the
ballpark. There is a glass-like panel in the top of the roof.
One thing that we think will differentiate this stadium
from a lot of others is how open it’s going to feel.
4
Jack Hill
Q: Do you have pricing set for Globe Life
Field?
A: We’re working on pricing. I can’t say that they’re set at
this stage, but they’re in progress. With baseball, and 81
games, we understand that we need to be affordable f or
everyone. Families are still very important to us, bring
your wife, kids, your friends, your neighbors, that’s still a
very important part of what we do and we’re committed
to making sure that we have affordable prices for
everyone.
Q: Will there be an opportunity ahead of
time to pick our seats?
A: As season ticket holders, yes. You will have priority to
choose your seats.
Q: Will Globe Life Field be able to host
events other than Rangers baseball
games?
A: Another advantage to having a roof and being able
to control climate is that it will make the building useful
365 days a year. Obviously Rangers baseball is first and
foremost, but when the field isn’t being used for baseball,
we certainly want to use it for other things such as public
events, meetings, conventions and trade shows.
Q: What is going to happen to the current
ballpark, Globe Life Park?
A: We’re entertaining a few ideas. You probably saw in the
paper that we were one of the few North Texas sites for
consideration by Amazon. We actually hosted Amazon
here in February. The city put on a great presentation,
unfortunately it didn’t go our way. I think it sort of proved
to us that there are opportunities either for a corporate
relocation, or some other activation with the field space.
We’ve said throughout, since 2016, the building will
remain. We love this façade.
Fans can visit the Hilti Observation Deck during any
Rangers Home Game. The Hilti Observation Deck is
located on the upper right field concourse, behind
section 341.