Scheduled to open in Spring Training 2011, the new spring-training home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies should raise the bar for spring-training facilities, according to the project's lead designer.
Scheduled to open in Spring Training 2011, the new spring-training home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies should raise the bar for spring-training facilities, according to HKS's Mo Stein, who gave us a sneak preview of the project.
The first spring-training complex ever built on Native American tribal land, the 140-acre project will be fully funded by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) as part of a larger development project on a site directly east of Scottsdale, near Indian Bend Road and the 101 Freeway. Seating 11,000 — 7,000 in the bowl, 4,000 on the large outfield berm — the ballpark and adjoining complex is being designed by the same firm that gave us Camelback Ranch, the Dodgers/White Sox complex that we liked very much when it opened this spring .
For the Diamondbacks and Rockies, the goal is to bring fans even closer to the action. "We have two teams absolutely committed to doing the best in the fan experience, giving fans a back-door look into baseball training," Stein says. "Fans wil be able to see baseball like they’ve never seen before."