Some more details from the Texas Rangers on the upcoming Globe Life Field, set to open in 2020, including updated renderings and a unique set up for longtime PA announcer Chuck Morgan.
The retractable-roof Globe Life Field will replace the adjacent Globe Life Park as the Rangers’ home. With planning for the ballpark taking shape, the Rangers presented new details on Monday.
As part of that announcement, the Rangers and Daktronics unveiled plans for nine LED video displays to be installed around the ballpark. The set of displays will be headlined by a videoboard in right field that comes in at 58 feet high by 150 feet wide, representing Globe Life Field’s largest. In addition, the ballpark will feature a left-field display measuring 40 feet high by 111 feet wide. Both videoboards are depicted in the rendering above, which shows an updated look at the facility’s design.
Plans for the ballpark also include a very prominent set up for Rangers Executive Vice President of Ballpark Entertainment and PA announcer Chuck Morgan. Rather than make announcements from a booth high above the seating bowl, Morgan will handle the PA duties from a glass-enclosed, 550-square foot booth located on the main concourse behind home plate. The idea was suggested to the Rangers by Morgan, who will now have a more direct opportunity to interact with fans. More from SportsDay:
Morgan, who has been with the Rangers for all but one season since 1983, suggested the idea based on his studies of old baseball parks and his own experience as a DJ with studious outside the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.
“When I did my radio show at WSM, we always used to leave the door open and 20 or 30 people would wander in and we’d do the show in front of them,” Morgan said. “To be able to interact with Rangers fans is important to me. They mean a lot to me. I’m just like them. I’m one of them: A big Rangers fan. I’m glad [ownership] listed to an idea.”
The 550-square-foot booth will sit directly behind home plate on the main concourse. Fans will be able to interact with Morgan, though, for security and quality reasons, there will be some degree of limitations on people in the booth.
Globe Life Field remains on track to open for the 2020 season. Once Globe Life Field opens, it will be Major League Baseball’s first new ballpark since the Atlanta Braves debuted SunTrust Park in 2017.
RELATED STORIES: Globe Life Field to Feature Nine LED Video Displays; Here’s to One Last Hurrah at Globe Life Park; Rangers Weighing Affordable Globe Life Field Seating; New Globe Life Field Renderings Released; Rangers Exploring Reduced Concession Prices at Globe Life Field; It’s Official: Globe Life Field Will Feature Synthetic Surface; Will Globe Life Field Feature Synthetic Surface?; Globe Life Field: A Lure for Free Agents?; Rangers, Arlington Planning Elaborate Globe Life Park Redevelopment; Globe Life Park Set to Host XFL in 2020; New Globe Life Field Model, Renderings Released by Rangers; Rangers Plan Intimate Globe Life Field Design; Rangers Release New Globe Life Field Renderings; Rangers: No Decision on Globe Life Field Playing Surface; Globe Life Field Construction Making Progress; Rangers Planning Globe Life Field Seating; Rangers Considering Natural Grass Playing Surface at Globe Life Field; Time-Lapse Camera Installed at Globe Life Field Site; College Football at Globe Life Field Discussed; Ground Broken on Live! by Loews-Arlington; Rangers Break Ground on Globe Life Field; Concerns Expressed Over Globe Life Field Design; New Texas Rangers Ballpark Renderings Released; AT&T Stadium Refinanced to Help Pay for Globe Life Field; Rangers Secure $600M in Financing for Globe Life Field; Globe Life Retains Rangers Ballpark Naming Rights