New Texas Rangers ballpark renderings were released today, as the look of Globe Life Field is being pushed as light and climate controlled and airy — even with the roof is closed.
Groundbreaking for Globe Life Field is scheduled for next week, as the Rangers continue to march toward a replacement for Globe Life Park. The new ballpark is set to open in 2020 and is designed to address a huge deficiency at the team’s prior homes: with lots of shade and climate-controlled areas, the Globe Life Field will be cooler and more comfortable than the sun fields found at Globe Life Park and Arlington Stadium.
It should also have one more big benefit: it should be a more intimate space than Globe Life Park. From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
“The upper deck is the chief beneficiary,” said Bryan Trubey, executive vice president with HKS. “We wanted to make a lot of effort to pull it as close as possible.”
He said the architecture should complement, but not copy, the existing ballpark known as Globe Life Park, and the roof should not dominate its design. Seating capacity at the new stadium would be between 41,000 and 42,000, down from about 50,000 at the existing ballpark.
The funding plan for Globe Life Field was approved via voter referendum last November. Under the terms of that plan, the taxes used to back bonds for construction of AT&T Stadium, the nearby Dallas Cowboys home, are to be extended an 30 additional years to finance $500 million in debt on Globe Life Field. Those taxes include a half-cent sales tax, a 2 percent hotel tax and a 5 percent car rental tax. The Rangers are currently expected to move into the retractable-roof Globe Life Field for the 2020 season.
Renderings courtesy HKS and Texas Rangers.
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