Q & A: globe life field
Rob Matwick Jack Hill
The Texas Rangers recently hosted a Question and Answer session for fans about construction of the future Globe Life Field in Arlington.
Rob Matwick, Texas Rangers Vice President of Business Operations, and Jack Hill, Senior Vice President of Project Development, answered these 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.
The next Q & A session is set for 6 p. m. Saturday, Sept. 22, on the Hilti Observation Deck on the upper right field concourse of Globe Life Park, behind section 341. Participants must have a game ticket to attend.
Here’ s a recap of fans’ questions:
Q: What progress has been made in the past months?
A: We’ ve made a lot of progress. Last month( July), we put the first piece of steel over on the south side of the ballpark. As you can see now, that structure has now gone up four levels and is pretty much complete.
One of the biggest changes you can see since the last time we met, over on the far side, the rakers were in place, but now we’ ve got actual pre-cast risers. That’ s what the seats will go on once we start that phase of the project. You can start to see that on the first base side, where we’ re a bit further along than on the right field side. That’ s the way the structure has started to move. Now we’ re actually behind home plate starting to make our way along the third base line.
What you’ re starting to see now is what we call the super structure, the steel frame going up where the office is. We’ ve been very pleased with the progress. We’ re on schedule to be where we need to be at this point.
Q: What is the concrete structure that you can see? Are those what you will actually be sitting on?
A: Those are seating risers. When you go to your seat at Globe Life Park, those risers that your feet are on is what you’ re seeing over at Globe Life Field right now. That is what the seats will be attached to.
Q: What big projects are coming up?
A: This fall, one of our big milestones is that you’ ll start to see the start of the roof. You’ ll see a much larger crane coming out here, and they’ ll start putting the roof together. It seems like that is pretty quick, which it is. It is a very fast-paced project.
Q: How will the roof open and close?
A: The roof is one piece, and it will move from east to west. Some of the other retractable field ballparks are multiple pieces. There are different ways to do it, but we felt like we wanted to have one piece. We think that by having one solid piece we’ ll have easier connections for when the roof is closed, and we’ ll have a tighter roof up top to prevent any leaks.
Q: Who makes the determination on whether the roof is open or closed?
A: That’ s the determination of the home team in the regular season and MLB during the playoffs.
Q: How long will it take to open the roof?
A: In our experience, it usually takes 10-12 minutes. It is hard to say until we actually have everything up and running.
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