Latest Texas Rangers News

Rangers Ballpark in Arlington is a ballpark in Arlington, Texas, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. It was known until May 7, 2004, as The Ballpark in Arlington when Ameriquest bought the naming rights to the ballpark and named it Ameriquest Field in Arlington. Even with the changed name, many fans continued to refer to it as simply “The Ballpark” or “The Temple.” On Monday, March 19, 2007, the Texas Rangers severed their relationship with Ameriquest and announced that the stadium would be named Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

	Capacity		49,115
	Opened		April 1, 1994
	Owner		Arlington Sports Facilities Development Authority
	Cost		$90 million
	Architect		David M. Schwarz/Architectural Services, Inc., HKS, Inc.

The stadium was constructed as a replacement for nearby Arlington Stadium. It is home to the American League’s Texas Rangers, and the Legends of the Game Baseball Museum.

The stadium is home to the Major League Baseball team, the Texas Rangers, and the Legends of the Game Baseball Museum.

Funding was approved for a new home for the Texas Rangers in 1991 by the City of Arlington. Construction began on April 2, 1992 a short distance away from Arlington Stadium, the ballpark it would replace, and the new Ballpark in Arlington was opened on April 1, 1994 in an exhibition contest between the Texas Rangers and the New York Mets. The first official game was on April 11 against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Rangers chose to build a retro-style ballpark along the lines of Oriole Park at Camden Yards and Jacobs Field. However, unlike those stadiums, which were situated on irregular plots of land in crowded downtown areas, Ameriquest Field was built on one of the old Arlington Stadium parking lots. Thus, the irregular dimensions of the outfield were planned independently rather than forced by neighboring structures.

This stadium was the site of the 1995 MLB All-Star Game. It also hosted the first regular season interleague game on June 12, 1997, when the Rangers played the San Francisco Giants.

On May 7, 2004, Rangers owner Tom Hicks announced that he had negotiated a sale of the naming rights of the stadium to home mortgage company Ameriquest. The contract was worth $75 million over 30 years.

The home plate and foul poles were originally at the old Arlington Stadium.

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Latest Rays News

Tropicana Field is a domed stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida which has been the home of the Tampa Bay Rays since 1998.

	Capacity		43,500
	Opened		March 3rd 1990
	Owner		The City of St. Petersburg
	Cost		$130 million
	Architect		Criswell, Blizzard & Blouin Architects

The ballpark originally began construction in 1986 in the hope that it would lure a Major League Baseball team. The stadium, built originally as the Florida Suncoast Dome, was first used in an attempt to entice the Chicago White Sox to relocate if a new ballpark were not built to replace the aging Comiskey Park. The governments of Chicago and Illinois eventually agreed to build a “new” Comiskey Park (now called U.S. Cellular Field) in 1989, and the White Sox owners ceased discussing the idea of moving the team to the Tampa Bay Area.

The stadium was finished in 1990, but still had no tenants. There were rumors of the Seattle Mariners moving in the early part of the 1990s, and the San Francisco Giants were reportedly very close to moving to the area, with Tampa Bay investors even announcing they were in a press conference in 1992. However, the sale was blocked by the then-owner of the Florida Marlins, H. Wayne Huizenga, and the move never happened. A local boycott of Blockbuster Video stores occurred for several years thereafter.

The Suncoast Dome did manage to gain a tenant in 1993 when the Tampa Bay Lightning made the stadium its home for three seasons. In the process, the Suncoast Dome was renamed the ThunderDome. Because of the large capacity of what was basically a park built for baseball, several NHL attendance records were set during their time there. The Arena Football Tampa Bay Storm also played there during the “ThunderDome” era, and set attendance records for that league as well.

Finally, in 1995, the dome got a baseball team when Major League Baseball expanded to the Tampa Bay area. Changes were made to the stadium and the name, which was changed due to the sale of naming rights, became Tropicana Field in 1996. A $70 million renovation then took place — to upgrade a stadium that had cost $115 million to complete only eight years earlier. The first regular-season baseball game took place at the park on March 31, 1998, when the Rays faced the Detroit Tigers, losing 11-6.

The park was initially built with an AstroTurf surface, but it was replaced in 2000 by softer FieldTurf, becoming the first major professional facility to use it.

Among the most cited dislikes about the stadium are the four catwalks that hang from the ceiling. The roof was slanted in order to reduce the interior volume and make the stadium cheaper to air-condition. Therefore, the dome is tilted toward the outfield, resulting in the catwalks being lower in the outfield. The upper catwalks are Ring A and Ring B; these catwalks are entirely in play and balls bouncing off them can be caught for outs, or drop for base hits. Ring C and Ring D are out of play; if they are struck between the foul poles (each one has a yellow post marking the relative foul line position), then the ball is ruled a home run. A few hits have been lost in them; for example, Jonny Gomes was called out during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 12, 2006, when a ball he hit landed in Ring B and rolled off to be caught by third baseman John McDonald. By the time it was caught, Gomes was already headed for home plate. Although then-Manager Joe Maddon tried to argue that it should have been at least a ground rule double since it stayed in Ring B for a while before coming loose, umpires eventually ruled against the Rays and called Gomes out.

Another criticism of the stadium is the drab interior environment; although the stadium is located in a subtropical climate, one cannot tell from inside the dome.

The facility has also been used for rounds of the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament; it hosted the Final Four in 1999. Despite being built in 1990, the stadium is constantly rated among the bottom of MLB fields. The Kane’s Club is a premium seating area located at the lowest level right behind the home plate.

Nicknames include “The Trop”, “The Juicer” and “Slopicana Field”.

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Latest Yankees News

The original Yankee Stadium is the stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It served as the home baseball park of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees from 1923 through 2008. Located at East 161st Street and River Avenue, the stadium has a capacity of 57,545 and hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York Giants football team, as well as the host of twenty of boxing’s most famous fights and three Papal masses. The stadium’s nickname, “The House That Ruth Built” comes from the iconic Babe Ruth, the baseball superstar whose prime years coincided with the beginning of the Yankees’ winning history.

Yankee Stadium is relatively famous in the United States, having hosted a variety of events and many historic moments during its existence. Its primary occupants, the Yankees, have won far more World Series championships (26) than any other major league club and Yankee Stadium has hosted 37 World Series, far more than any other baseball stadium. The Stadium also hosted the major-league All-Star Game four times: 1939, 1960, 1977, and, as part of its curtain call, 2008.

In 2006, the Yankees began construction on a new $1.8 billion stadium in public parkland adjacent to the original Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are expecting to open their new home in 2009. Once the new stadium opens, most of the old stadium, including the above-ground structure, is to be demolished to become parkland.

The first game at the stadium was held on April 18, 1923, with the Yankees beating the Boston Red Sox 4-1. The final game at the stadium was held on September 21, 2008, with the Yankees beating the Baltimore Orioles 7-3.

	Capacity		57,545
	Opened		April 18th 1923
	Owner		City of New York
	Cost		$2.3 million
	Architect		Osborn Engineering (1923); Praeger-Kavanaugh-Waterbury (1976)

You can see our page on the New Yankee Stadium by clicking here.

With Andy Pettitte as the starting pitcher, the Yankees played their final game at Yankee Stadium on September 21, 2008 against the Baltimore Orioles, recording the final out at 11.43pm EDT with a 7-3 Yankee victory. Among many lasts to be recorded, a long-time standing question was answered. It was first wondered by Babe Ruth after he hit the first home run in Yankee Stadium on its opening day of April 18, 1923:
“ I was glad to have hit the first home run in this park. God only knows who will hit the last. ”

That person turned out to be Jose Molina, as he hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning.

Other lasts were Jason Giambi recording the last hit in Yankee Stadium, driving in Brett Gardner, who scored the last run in Yankee Stadium. Mariano Rivera made the final pitch in the stadium with Cody Ransom recording the final out at first base. In the eighth inning, Derek Jeter became the final Yankee to bat in Yankee Stadium. He ended 0–5 for the night after being hit by a pitch on his hand in the previous day’s game.

The ceremonies for the final game at Yankee Stadium began with the opening of Monument Park many hours before the game started giving life long fans one last chance to honor their favorite Yankee players of all time. For the last time in Old Yankee Stadium, fans were able to see plaques honoring Babe Ruth, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and many other legendary players. Many former Yankee greats including Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson, Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill, Willie Randolph, Roy White, Chris Chambliss took their positions in the playing field as their names were announced by the legendary Bob Sheppard. Julia Ruth Stevens, daughter of Babe Ruth, threw out the ceremonial first pitch in the final game in “The House That Ruth Built”.

After the game was over, captain Derek Jeter delivered a speech on the field surrounded by his teammates. In the unplanned speech, Jeter thanked and saluted the fans:
“ For all of us up here, it’s a huge honor to put this uniform on every day and come out here and play. And every member of this organization, past and present, has been calling this place home for eighty-five years. There’s a lot of tradition, a lot of history, and a lot of memories.

Now the great thing about memories is you’re able to pass it along from generation to generation. And although things are going to change next year, we’re going to move across the street, there are a few things with the New York Yankees that never change— its pride, its tradition, and most of all, we have the greatest fans in the world.

And we are relying on you to take the memories from this stadium, add them to the new memories that come at the new Yankee Stadium, and continue to pass them on from generation to generation. So on behalf of the entire organization, we just want to take this moment to salute you, the greatest fans in the world.
”
Afterwards, the team circled the stadium on the warning track waving to fans and wishing the stadium goodbye.

An official closing ceremony was reportedly scheduled to occur in November 2008 to celebrate not only the Yankees but also the football Giants, the various boxing matches, Papal visits, concerts and other events that took place at the Stadium over the years. However, that last ceremony, which would had been held on the weekend of November 8-9 for charity, was apparently canceled and perhaps never under serious consideration. Yankee officials said that while the team had contemplated a final ceremony (with any proceeds going to charity), talk of a concert was just media speculation. Although this “grand finale” never took place, public tours of Yankee Stadium (which had resumed in early October) were scheduled to continue until at least November 23, 2008.

On November 8, 2008 former Yankees Scott Brosius, Paul O’Neill, David Cone and Jeff Nelson, all members of the 1998 world championship team, joined 60 children from two Bronx based youth groups Youth Force 2020 and the ACE Mentor Program in ceremoniously digging up home plate, the pitcher’s mound pitching plate (rubber) and the surrounding dirt of both areas and transporting them to comparable areas of the New Yankee stadium. This symbolically and physically linked the two stadiums and the passing on the history and tradition of the old structure to the new.

On November 12, 2008 workmen began removing the memorials from Monument Park beginning with the memorial for Babe Ruth which will be moved to the new Yankee Stadium across the street.

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Latest Seattle Mariners News

Safeco Field, sometimes simply referred to as “Safeco” for short or even “The Safe,” is the home of the Seattle Mariners baseball club. The stadium seats 46,621. It was the host for the 2001 MLB All-Star Game. Other events have been held at Safeco Field, including the 2001 college football Seattle Bowl and WrestleMania XIX, which set a Safeco Field attendance record of 54,097 in 2003.

Safeco Field is located in the SoDo district of downtown Seattle, at the intersection of First Avenue S. and Edgar Martinez Drive S. — or simply known as the corner of First & Edgar.

	Capacity		46,621
	Opened		July 15, 1999
	Owner		Washington-King County Stadium Authority
	Cost		$517.6 million
	Architect		NBBJ

On March 30, 1994, King County executive Gary Locke appointed a task force to assess the need for a new baseball stadium to replace the rapidly-deteriorating Kingdome. Many feared that the Mariners would leave Seattle if a new stadium was not built. In January 1995, the 28-member task force recommended to the King County Council that the public should be involved in the financing of the stadium. The task force concluded that a sales tax increase of .01% would be sufficient to fund the stadium. King County held a special election in September 1995, asking the public for this sales tax increase. The measure was narrowly defeated.

A special session of the Washington State legislature was called, and on October 14, a new revenue package was authorized. The stadium would be funded by a credit against the state sales tax, lottery funds, a .3% restaurant and bar tax, special license plates, and stadium admissions tax. The next week, the King County Council voted to approve this measure and created the Public Facilities District, which would own the stadium and oversee its construction.

On September 9, 1996, the site was selected for the new stadium, just south of the Kingdome. In late fall, several members of the King County Council wrote a letter to the Seattle Mariners, stating that they did not believe that public money should fund this project. In response, the Seattle Mariners held a news conference stating that they would either sell the team, or move the team from Seattle. After a public outcry, the King County Council voted to reaffirm their cooperation with the Mariners in building a new stadium.

Construction officially began on March 8, 1997 with a groundbreaking ceremony featuring Mariners star Ken Griffey, Jr. The naming rights to the stadium were sold to the Seattle-based insurance company Safeco. Construction continued until July 1999. The first game was played on July 15, 1999 against the San Diego Padres.

Safeco Field has a unique retracting roof that, unlike those of stadiums like the Rogers Centre, Chase Field and Minute Maid Park, only acts as an umbrella for the stands and field rather than forming a complete enclosure.

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Latest Blue Jays News

Latest Buffalo Bills News

Rogers Centre, formerly known as (and often still called) SkyDome, is a multi-purpose stadium in Toronto, Ontario, situated next to the CN Tower near the shores of Lake Ontario. It is home to Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays and the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts. While it is primarily a sports venue, Rogers Centre also hosts other large-scale events such as conventions, trade fairs, and concerts.

	Capacity		50,598 (baseball), 53,506 (football)
	Opened		June 5, 1989
	Owner		Rogers Communications
	Cost		$570 million (canadian)
	Architect		Rod Robbie, Michael Allen

Rogers Centre is also noted for being the first stadium to have a fully retractable motorized roof and as a stadium to have hotel rooms attached to it , with 70 rooms overlooking the field. It is also the last North American major-league stadium built to accommodate both football and baseball.

Rogers Centre was designed by Rod Robbie and Michael Allen and was constructed by Ellis-Don Construction of London, Ontario. The stadium’s construction lasted just over three years, from April 1986 to May 1989. The approximate cost of construction was $600 million (CAD) which was paid for by the Canadian federal government, Ontario provincial government, and a large consortium of corporations. Though nominally a multi-purpose stadium the primary impetus for its construction was the need for a new baseball stadium for the Blue Jays, who until 1989 played at Exhibition Stadium, which was seen as substandard due to a layout originally designed for football and exposure to cold weather. It was the 1982 CFL Grey Cup game that began the process of looking for a new stadium. The professional football match turned into chaos as the sleet and snow turned the playing field into a muddy pit, the washrooms were overflowing and the crowds were exposed to the miserable autumn weather. In attendance was Ontario Premier, Bill Davis. Following the fiasco began the search for an all-purpose, all-weather stadium. Over the years various tangible projects emerged, including a large indoor stadium at Exhibition Place with an air supported dome – similar to Vancouver’s BC Place. In 1985 an international design competition was launched to design a new stadium, along with selection of a site for the stadium. Some of the sites included Exhibition Place and York University. The final site was located at the base of the CN Tower just west of a major railway and transit hub Union Station, downtown Toronto.

Ultimately the Robbie/Allen concept won for it provided the largest roof opening of all the finalists, and it was the most technically sound. Others stadium designs included one that was like a bow tie, which cast a shadow over the field.

The stadium was publicly funded. The initial cost was greatly underestimated, with the final tab coming in at $570 million CAD. The stadium was also completed late, having been planned to open for the first regular season Toronto Blue Jays game. The stadium would later become the thorn in the side of David Peterson’s Ontario Liberal government for its overspending in the venture. An election in 1990 saw the party lose power.

The name SkyDome was coined by a private citizen who entered a Province-wide contest to name the stadium. Sponsored by the Toronto Sun, ballots were offered for people to submit their suggested name. Several people did choose ‘SkyDome’, and as a result a winning name was drawn from all the similar entries. The selected winners won lifetime seats to SkyDome.

In the early 1990s the consortium of companies that had built the stadium had amassed a huge debt and a massive, and controversial, government bail-out was arranged. In 1998, Sportsco International LP bought the stadium for $85 million (Canadian). However, by 2004, Rogers Communications, parent company of the Blue Jays, agreed to acquire SkyDome from Sportco International, LP for about $25 million CAD (about $21.24 million USD) which was 1/24 the cost of construction.

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Latest Houston Astros News

Minute Maid Park is a baseball stadium in Houston, Texas that opened in 2000 to house the Houston Astros.

	Capacity		40,950
	Opened		March 30th 2000
	Owner		Harris County-Houston Sports Authority
	Cost		$250 million
	Architect		HOK Sport

The ballpark was Houston’s first retractable-roofed stadium, protecting fans and athletes from Houston’s notoriously humid weather like its predecessor, the Astrodome, but allowing fans to also enjoy outdoor baseball, something they couldn’t enjoy in the Astrodome. Its largest entrance is inside what was once Houston’s Union Station, and the left-field side of the stadium features a train as homage to the site’s history. The train moves along a track on top of the length of the exterior wall beyond left field whenever an Astros player hits a home run, or when the Astros win a game (the engine’s tender, traditionally used to carry coal, is filled with giant oranges in tribute to Minute Maid’s most famous product, orange juice).

The ballpark was first christened as Enron Field on April 9, 1999, with naming rights sold to the Houston energy corporation. Astros management faced a public relations nightmare when the energy corporation went bankrupt in the midst of one of the biggest business scandals in American history in 2001, and they bought back the remainder of Enron’s thirty years of naming rights for $2.1 million, rechristening the ballpark as Astros Field on February 7, 2002. On June 5, 2002 Houston-based Minute Maid, the fruit-juice subsidiary of Coca-Cola, acquired the naming rights to the stadium.

During its days as Enron Field, it was also dubbed “Ten-Run” or “Home Run” Field due to its cozy left-field dimensions. In keeping with this theme while paying homage to its current sponsor, the nickname “The Juice Box” is sometimes heard today.

The stadium is known for being particularly hitter-friendly down the lines, especially in left field where it is only 315 ft (96 m) to the Crawford Boxes, though the wall there is 19 feet tall. Conversely, it is quite difficult to hit a ball out in center field, though fielding is a challenge there as well, due to the 30-degree steep up-sloped grade, known as Tal’s Hill, for team president Tal Smith, an element taken from Crosley Field and other historic ballparks (in a bit of gallows humor, the hill is also known as the “Grassy Knoll”), and the flagpole in play, an element taken from Yankee Stadium and Tiger Stadium among others. The difference is that the Crosley Field “terrace” was necessitated by the difference in elevation between field level and street level, while Tal’s Hill is purely decorative. Both structures have been held in equal disdain by the respective outfielders that have had to patrol those areas.

A concourse above Tal’s Hill features the “Conoco Home Run Porch” in left-center field that is actually over the field of play, and features a classic gasoline pump that displays the total number of Astros home runs hit since the park opened.

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Latest Milwaukee Brewers News

Miller Park is a baseball stadium located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is home to the Milwaukee Brewers and was built as a replacement for Milwaukee County Stadium.

	Capacity		43,000
	Opened		April 6th 2001
	Owner		Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball District, Milwaukee Brewers
	Cost		$400 million
	Architect		HKS Inc, NBBJ, Eppstein Uhen Architects

Miller Park was built with $310 million of public funds, which was controversial, particularly due to the fact that the team owner, Bud Selig (also the Commissioner of Baseball) was highly unpopular locally. Construction was subject to numerous delays. Groundbreaking took place on October 22, 1996, in a parking lot behind County Stadium. Construction had already been slowed, and the originally planned opening date of Opening Day 1999 had already been pushed back and was delayed even further after three construction workers were killed in a tragic accident. The massive Lampson Transi-lift crane (nicknamed “Big Blue”), brought in to build the roof, collapsed while lifting a 400 ton roof section on July 14, 1999. The stadium did not open until Opening Day 2001.

The stadium has a retractable roof, built in a unique convertible style, with the roof panels opening and closing simultaneously in a sweeping manner from the first base and third base sides towards center field. The huge roof explained a large part of the $400 million cost of the stadium.

The stadium design follows the trend of retro-designed ballparks with current amenities that began in 1990’s. The design of Miller Park most closely resembles that of Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1938 to 1957.

The unconventional fan-shaped roof has proven to be more problematic than most contemporary retractable roofs. Because of its height and size, the fixed roof panel on the stadium’s west side casts a shadow on the infield during most of the day. This led to unexpected problems with the growth of the natural grass surface on the first base side. At one point during the 2002 season, the Brewers publicly broached the possibility of having to replace the natural grass surface with an artificial surface, such as FieldTurf. To this point, however, a switch to an artificial surface has not been seriously considered. The roof has also been the butt of jokes in the local media for its tendency to leak during summer rain storms. The Brewers, in response to critics, have claimed that the roof was never intended to be water tight. Major elements of the pivot system behind home plate and the outfield roof track have had to be repaired or even replaced at the cost of millions of dollars since the stadium’s opening in 2001.

In time for the 2006 season there were three noticeable additions to the stadium. Two different sets of LED scoreboards were added. One replacing the formerly manually-operated “out of town” scoreboards located along the left and right field walls with a new set of LED scoreboards along the left-field wall. The new “out of town” scoreboards show continually updated information about other Major League games including the score, hits, errors, outs, and an image of the field displaying the runners on base. A second-tier scoreboard was also added along the bottom of the 200-level of the stadium stretching from foul pole to home plate to foul pole. The section of the second-tier scoreboard above home plate displays statistics for those unable to see the main scoreboard above the center-field wall. The final addition to Miller Park for the 2006 season was the addition of a field-level picnic-area in the corner of right-field. The picnic-area has a capacity of 75 and provides a place for fans to watch the game in a leisurely setting and be within feet of the right-fielder.

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Latest Philadelphia Phillies News

Citizens Bank Park is a 43,302-seat baseball-only stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that opened on April 3, 2004 and hosted its first regular season baseball game on April 12. It was built to replace the now-demolished Veterans Stadium (a football/baseball facility) and is the home of the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team.

	Capacity		43,302
	Opened		April 3rd 2004
	Owner		Philadelphia Phillies
	Cost		$346 million
	Architect		Ewing Cole Cherry Brott, HOK Sport

The ballpark features natural grass and dirt playing field. There are many Philly style food stands there including some that feature cheesesteaks, hoagies and other regional specialties. Behind center field is Ashburn Alley, named after Phillies great and Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn, a walkway featuring restaurants and memorabilia from Phillies history, along with a restaurant bar and grille called “Harry The K’s” named after Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas. This area opens two-and-a-half hours before the scheduled first pitch, much like Eutaw Street at Oriole Park at Camden Yards via the Left Field Gate.

In 1998, the Phillies and the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League joined their western Pennsylvania counterparts, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Pittsburgh Steelers in making requests to replace both “The Vet” and Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh with separate stadiums, much of which came after an railing collasped at The Vet during the Army-Navy Game injuring eight spectators. The Pirates had also made strong threats in 1997 about moving from Pittsburgh, forcing the issue at the state level. The state legislature approved funding for all four stadiums. While Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh approved the pacts rather swiftly, due to plans already being in place at the time of legislative approval, bickering in Philadelphia’s political arena and debate carried on as Pittsburgh opened their stadiums (PNC Park for the Pirates and Heinz Field for the Steelers) in 2001. The Eagles agreed to a site slightly southeast of Veterans Stadium, which would become Lincoln Financial Field. The “Linc” was built on the site of an old food warehouse and celebrated its grand opening in August 2003.

The Phillies originally wanted a downtown ballpark much like those in Baltimore, Denver, Cincinnati, Cleveland or San Francisco. Various locations were proposed, initially at Broad and Spring Garden streets, Spring Garden and Delaware Avenue and next to 30th Street Station, where the main post office is located. The team and City announced that the site would be at 13th and Vine streets, just north of Interstate 676, an easy walk from downtown and a great view of the skyline. There was considerable support for a downtown ball park, but residents of the city’s Chinatown section formed protests, even though the ball park would not technically be located in Chinatown, and the City and team eventually settled on building at the south Philadelphia sports complex. In the years following, many residents and fans have expressed regret that the new ball park is not located in Center City.

The unveiling of the park and ground breaking ceremonies were on June 28, 2001. Following the game that evening, the location of the left-field foul pole was unveiled at the outset of the team’s annual 4th of July fireworks display.

The next milestone came on June 17, 2003 when the Citizens Bank division of the Royal Bank of Scotland agreed with the team to a 25-year, $95 million (US) deal for naming rights and advertising on telecasts, radio broadcasts, publications and inside the facility. The ballpark was officially completed on August 12 that same year, and it was cleared to open the following April.

Controversial comments have swirled around the fence distances since its opening. Pitchers and media members (especially those in Philadelphia’s newspapers) have indicated that the ballpark, which promised to be fair to both hitters and pitchers, was a bandbox. The team made an honest mistake originally placing a 369-foot distance marker in left center field twenty-five feet closer than it should have. A study originally showed that a survey of wind patterns would have had an advantage in night games for pitchers and hitters in day games. But in 2004, the park yielded a total of 228 homers, the most in the National League, and only U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago served up more dingers with 272 that year. After the 2005 season where 17 fewer home runs were hit in the park than in 2004, the fences in left and left-center were moved back five feet and raised 2.5 feet (0.76 meters). On May 11, 2006, in a rain-shortened game against the New York Mets, Phillies center fielder Aaron Rowand, in catching a long-drive hit that prevented a possible 4-2 loss, ran full speed into the Phillies bullpen fence, breaking his nose in the process. Rowand, upon seeing the center field fence after his acquisition from the Chicago White Sox, recommended to the Phillies to place extra padding on the bullpen fence, padding that arrived the day before his sacrificial save, and that was being slated for installment on the team’s next road trip series against the Cincinnati Reds. The padding has since been installed.

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Latest Oakland Athletics News

McAfee Coliseum is a stadium located in Oakland, California, United States that is used for football and baseball games. Commonly referred to as The Coliseum. It was formerly known as Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and Network Associates Coliseum, some locals referred to it as The Net during the time it was named for Network Associates.

	Capacity		34,077 (baseball) / 63,026 (football)
	Opened		September 18, 1966
	Owner		City of Oakland and Alameda County
	Cost		$25.5 million, $200 million (1996 renovations)
	Architect		Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

In 1966, the city of Oakland constructed Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (or Oakland Coliseum for short) for two reasons: as a new stadium for the Oakland Raiders and also in an effort to lure MLB baseball to Oakland. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics became the Oakland Athletics and began play at the new stadium. The Raiders played their first game there on September 18, 1966. The Athletics’ first game was played on April 17, 1968. The stadium complex cost $25.5 million to build and rests on 120 acres (0.5 km²) of land. The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex at one time consisted of the outdoor stadium and the indoor arena. The outdoor stadium was commonly called “the Coliseum”, while the arena was called “The Coliseum arena.” More recently, only the stadium is called the Coliseum. The arena is now called Oakland Arena, and is home to the Golden State Warriors basketball team of the NBA. The outdoor stadium features a unique underground design where the playing surface is actually below ground level. Consequently fans entering the stadium find themselves walking on to the main concourse of the stadium at the top of the first level of seats. This combined with the hill that was built around the stadium to created the upper concourse means that only the third deck is the only visible level from outside the park. This gives the Coliseum the illusion of being a short stadium from the outside.

In its baseball configuration, the Coliseum has more space between the foul lines and the seats, especially near first base and third base, than any other major league ballpark. Thus, many balls that would reach the seats in other ballparks are caught for outs at the Coliseum.

In 1972, the Athletics won their first of three straight World Series championships, and their first since their years in Philadelphia. In 1982, the Oakland Raiders moved to Los Angeles, leaving the A’s as the only remaining tenants of Oakland Coliseum. The 1987 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held at the Coliseum. From 1988-1990 the venue saw three more World Series. In 1989, the Oakland A’s won their fourth Series since moving to Oakland, as “Bash Brothers” José Canseco and Mark McGwire of the A’s defeated the San Francisco Giants in the earthquake-interrupted “Bay Bridge” Series or “BART” Series.

In July 1995, the Los Angeles Raiders agreed to return to Oakland provided that Oakland Coliseum underwent renovations. In November 1995, those renovations commenced and continued through the next summer until the beginning of the 1996 football season. The steeply-pitched stands that now span the outfield (and face the setting sun late in the day during NFL games) acquired the derisive nickname “Mount Davis”, after the ever-controversial Raiders owner Al Davis, from those who considered the view of the Oakland Hills over the center-field bleachers valuable. The new layout also had the somewhat peculiar effect of creating an inward jog in the outfield fence, in left-center and right-center. There are now three distance markers instead of one, at various points of the power alleys, as indicated in the dimensions grid. The Raiders return also heralded the creation of the Black Hole, a prolific and highly recognizable group of fans who occupy the Raider’s endzone seating during football games.

Along with the since-demolished Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the Coliseum features the unusual configuration of laying the football field on a line from first to third base rather than laying it from home plate to center field, or parallel to one of the foul lines, as with most multi-purpose facilities. Thus, a seat behind home plate for baseball is behind the 50-yard line for football. The Coliseum has the distinction of being the last multipurpose venue in the United States that hosts both Major League baseball and an NFL team. (Note: Although the Metrodome and Dolphin Stadium host both, these facilities were designed as football stadiums that can adjust to host baseball.)

On December 21, 2005, the Athletics announced they had reduced the seating capacity of the Coliseum to 34,077 by closing the third deck of the stadium permanently. The closed seats will be covered by a tarp during baseball season featuring retired numbers and other A’s history. On April 2, 2006, the broadcast booth was renamed in honor of the late Bill King, a Bay Area sportscaster who was the play-by-play voice of the A’s, Raiders and Warriors for over thirty years.

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Latest Red Sox News

Fenway Park is the home ballpark for the Boston Red Sox baseball club. Fenway Park opened on April 20, 1912, the same day as the now-abandoned Tiger Stadium in Detroit making Fenway Park the oldest ballpark still in active use in Major League Baseball.

It is located near, and named for, the Fenway neighborhood in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Its name comes from when former owner John I. Taylor said, “It’s in the Fenway section of Boston, isn’t it? Then name it Fenway Park.” Fenway hosted the 1946, 1961, and 1999 Major League Baseball All-Star Games.

	Capacity		38,805
	Opened		April 20, 1912
	Owner		Boston Red Sox
	Cost		$650,000
	Architect		Osborn Engineering Corp

Historically, Fenway Park has been decidedly unfriendly to left-handed pitchers. Babe Ruth is one of the few southpaw hurlers who found success there. Ruth started his career as a pitcher (mostly during the “dead-ball era”,) and had a career record of 94 wins, 46 losses (.671 winning percentage). Ruth also set a World Series record by pitching 29 2/3 scoreless innings, a record that lasted until broken by Whitey Ford of the New York Yankees in 1961.

Fenway Park is one of the few remaining classic parks in major league baseball to have a significant number of obstructed view seats. These are sold as such, and are a reminder of the architectural limitations of older ballparks.

‘The Green Monster’

The stadium is most famous for the left field wall called the “Green Monster”. Constructed in 1934, the 37-foot, two-inch high wall is 240 feet long, has a 22-foot deep foundation, and was constructed from 30,000 pounds of Toncan iron. Previously, a 23-1/2-foot tall screen protected cars and pedestrians on Lansdowne Street. However, the screen was replaced after the 2002 season with more seating atop the Green Monster (in an attempt to fit as many seats as possible in Fenway).

The wall measures only 310 feet (94.5 m) from home plate down the left field line (See “Duffy’s Cliff”).

‘The Triangle’

“The Triangle” is a region of center field where the walls form a triangle 420 feet (128 m) from home plate. That deep right-center point is conventionally given as the center field distance.

‘Williamsburg’

“Williamsburg” was the name, invented by sportswriters, for the bullpen area built in front of the right-center field bleachers in 1940. It was done primarily for the benefit of Ted Williams, to enable him and other lefthand batters to hit more home runs, since it was 23 feet closer than the bleacher wall. The name was inspired both by Colonial Williamsburg and Yankee Stadium’s cozy right field area that was often called “Ruthville”.

The Lone Red Seat

The lone red seat in the right field bleachers (Section 42, Row 37, Seat 21), signifies the spot where the longest measurable home run ever hit inside Fenway Park landed. Ted Williams hit the home run on June 9, 1946 off Fred Hutchinson of the Detroit Tigers.

‘The Belly’

“The Belly” is the sweeping curve of the box-seat railing from the right end of “Williamsburg” around to the right field corner. The box seats were added when the bullpens were built in 1940, to make it easier for Ted Williams to hit more home runs. They cut the 1934 remodeling’s right field line distance by some 30 feet.

‘Pesky’s Pole’

Pesky’s Pole is the name for the pole on the right field foul line. The pole was named after Johnny Pesky, a light-hitting shortstop for the Red Sox, who hit some of his six home runs at Fenway Park around the pole but never off the pole (a mere 302 feet from home plate).

Fisk Foul Pole

In a ceremony before the Red Sox’s 2005 interleague game against the Cincinnati Reds, the pole on the left field foul line atop The Green Monster was named Fisk Foul Pole, in honor of Carlton “Pudge” Fisk. Fisk provided one of baseball’s most enduring moments in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series against the Reds. Facing Reds right-hander Pat Darcy in the 12th inning with the score tied at 6-6, Fisk hit a long fly ball down the left field line. It appeared to be heading foul, but Fisk, after initially appearing unsure of whether or not to continue running to first base, famously jumped and waved his arms to the right as if to somehow direct the ball fair. It ricocheted off the foul pole, winning the game for the Red Sox and sending the series to a seventh and deciding game the next night, which was won by Cincinnati.

‘Duffy’s Cliff’

From 1912 to 1933, there was a 10-foot-high incline in front of the then 25-foot high left field wall at Fenway park, extending from the left-field foul pole to the center field flag pole. As a result, a left fielder in Fenway Park had to play part of the territory running uphill (and back down). Boston’s first star left fielder, Duffy Lewis, mastered the skill so well that the area became known as “Duffy’s Cliff”.

The incline served two purposes: 1) it was a support for a high wall; and 2) it was built to compensate for the difference in grades between the field and Lansdowne Street on the other side of that wall. It also served as a spectator-friendly seating area during the dead-ball era when overflow crowds would sit on the incline behind ropes. It is often compared to the infamous left field “terrace” at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field, but, in truth, the 15-degree all-grass incline there served an entirely different purpose: as an alternative to an all dirt warning track found in most other ballparks. It was a natural feature of the site on which Crosley Field and its predecessors were located; slightly less severe inclines were deliberately built in center and right fields to compensate.

‘The Triangle’

There was once a smaller “triangle” at the left end of the bleachers in center field, posted as 388 feet (118.3 m). The end of the bleachers form a right angle with “The Green Monster”, and the flagpole stands within that little triangle. That is not the true power alley, but deep left-center. The true power alley distance is not posted. The foul line intersects with “The Green Monster” at a right angle, so the power alley could be estimated at 336 feet (102.4 m), assuming the power alley is 22.5 degrees away from the foul line as measured from home plate.

‘Canvas Alley’

A phrase made popular by Boston television commentators, “Canvas Alley” is the open alley behind the first base line where the grounds crew sits. Canvas Alley has recently been narrowed to accommodate seats. Contrary to common belief, it does not actually house the tarp. The tarp sits next to the camera pit which is next to the Red Sox dugout.

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Latest Orioles News

Oriole Park at Camden Yards is a baseball stadium located in Baltimore, Maryland, which was constructed to replace the aging Memorial Stadium. It is the home field of the Baltimore Orioles. It was the first, and thus one of the most highly praised, of the “retro” ballparks constructed during the 1990s and early 2000s. It is situated in a picturesque location, at the corner of downtown Baltimore and near the Inner harbor.

	Capacity		48,262
	Location		333 West Camden Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201
	Opened		April 6, 1992
	Owner		Maryland Stadium Authority
	Cost		$110 million
	Architect		HOK Sport

Historically, Oriole Park at Camden Yards is one of several stadiums that have carried the Oriole Park name, for various Baltimore franchises over the years.

In 1989, construction began on an all-new, baseball-only ballpark for the Baltimore Orioles. Construction lasted 33 months on the ballpark, which finally opened on April 6, 1992, against the Cleveland Indians. After considerable debate on whether to name the new ballpark Oriole Park or Camden Yards—former Orioles owner Eli Jacobs favored “Oriole Park” while then-Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer favored “Camden Yards”—a compromise was reached to use both names[citation needed].

The retro-style ballpark began a trend among other cities to construct more traditional, fan-friendly ballparks, including Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ameriquest Field in Arlington, Texas, Safeco Field in Seattle and Comerica Park in Detroit.

Camden Yards hosted the 1993 MLB All-Star Game. On June 18, 1994, 43 fans were injured in an escalator accident; one of the stadium’s multiple-story escalators, overcrowded with fans heading to their upper-deck seats, jerked backward, throwing people to the bottom landing. On September 6, 1995, Camden Yards witnessed Cal Ripken, Jr.’s record-setting 2,131st consecutive game (the layout of the playing field was, in fact, somewhat designed to match Ripken’s hitting style). Exactly one year later, Eddie Murray blasted his 500th home run there.

Two orange seats stand out from the park’s trademark sea of dark green plastic chairs. One, located at Section 96, Row D, Seat 23 in the right-center field bleachers (officially known as the Eutaw Street Reserve sections), commemorates the spot where Murray’s 500th home run landed. The other, Section 86, Row FF, Seat 10, was the landing spot for Ripken’s 278th home run as a shortstop, breaking Chicago Cubs legend Ernie Banks’s record for the position. That home run was hit on July 15, 1993. Ripken finished his career with 345 home runs as a shortstop and 431 overall.

The only no-hitter thrown at Oriole Park at Camden Yards to date was tossed by Hideo Nomo, then with the Boston Red Sox, on April 4, 2001. Nomo faced 30 Orioles batters, walking Mike Bordick twice and Chris Richard once, as the Red Sox won, 3-0.

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Dorney Lake is a purpose built rowing lake in the United Kingdom. It is located by the small village of Dorney and near the towns of Windsor and Eton. The lake is privately owned and financed by Eton College who have spent £17 million developing it and no public money has been used. Although it is primarily for use by the school, the facilities are made available to the rowing community (as well as for canoeing, dragon boat and triathlon training).

The lake will be used as the 2012 Summer Olympic venue for rowing and canoe/kayak flatwater. This will involve enhancing the existing facilities to include 20,000 seats, most of which will be temporary.

Features:

– Stillwater, with consistent water conditions
– 2,000 m straight length for racing
– 8 rowing lanes, each 13.5 m wide
– Minimum water depth of 3.5 m
– A return channel for boat movements to the start, separated from the main lake by an island

Dorney Lake hosted the 2006 World Rowing Championships

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The ExCeL Exhibition Centre is a large purpose-built exhibition centre in the Royal Docks area of London’s redeveloped Docklands. The centre was built by Sir Robert McAlpine: it opened in November 2000, and its name is a contraction of Exhibition Centre London.

ExCeL’s site covers over 100 acres (400,000 m²) on the north quayside of the Royal Victoria Dock. Whilst this dock closed to commercial traffic in 1981, it is still accessible to shipping. The centre’s waterfront location is used to advantage when it hosts the annual London Boat Show, with visiting vessels able to moor alongside the exhibition centre; for example the 2005 show was visited by HMS Sutherland. The exhibition building itself consists of two column-free rectangular halls of 32,250 m² each on either side of a central boulevard containing catering facilities and information points. The halls can be subdivided for smaller events. There are also three sets of function rooms, one overlooking the water, another above the western end of the central boulevard, and the third on the north side of the building. A temporary hall can be added on part of the car park when required. There are several on-site hotels, including a permanently moored cruise liner.

On 22 April 2005 ExCeL played host to WWE’s SmackDown!. On 10 December 2005 ExCeL hosted two boxing matches. The first, between British heavyweights Danny Williams and Audley Harrison. The second match between Amir Khan and Daniel Thorpe. On 2 February 2008 ExCel hosted a boxing match between Amir Khan and Gairy St Clair for the WBO intercontinental lightweight title.

For the 2012 Summer Olympics ExCeL will be divided into four sports halls with capacities ranging from 6,000 to 10,000, which will be used for boxing, fencing, judo, taekwondo, table tennis, weightlifting and wrestling.

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	Capacity		16,900
	Opened		9th May 1965

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A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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The Plaza de toros de El Puerto is a bullring in El Puerto de Santa María, Spain. Dating from the nineteenth century, it has an eclectic architectural style and was completed in 1880. It is the work of Manuel Portillo de Avila y Herrera. The arena is 99 metres in diameter and the central ruedo measures 60m. It is estimated to hold 15.000 spectators, making it one of the largest rings in Spain behind Madrid’s Las Ventas and the ring in Valencia.

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A Short History of >Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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	Capacity		8,700
	Opened		1829

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A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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	Capacity		11,000
	Opened		1890

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A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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	Capacity		9,500
	Opened		1894

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A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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	Capacity		9,359
	Opened		4th August 1889

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A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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	Capacity		7,000
	Opened		1883

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A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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The Plaza de Toros de la Malagueta is one of Málaga’s most historic and recognisable buildings.

	Capacity		15,000 seated
	Opened		1th June 1876

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Plaza de Toros de la Malagueta website
A Short History of Bullfighting
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	Capacity		14,000
	Built		1946
	Bullfring here since		1766

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achotoros (no english version available)
A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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	Capacity		12,000
	Opened		1917

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A Short History of Bullfighting
Anti-bullfighting website

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The modern arena replaces the original bullring (built 1905, demolished 1985) and it features a unique roofing system. The arena hosts bullfighting, tennis and is the home to Rela Madrid basketball team. The arena has also become a popular home to many rock and pop concerts in Madrid.

	Capacity		15,000
	Opened		2000

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