A new synthetic turf field has been installed at Globe Life Park, the latest step in converting the former Texas Rangers home into a venue that will host professional football and soccer teams.
Originally opening in 1994 as The Ballpark in Arlington, Globe Life Park hosted the Rangers through the 2019 season. In March, the team will move into the brand-new Globe Life Field—a retractable-roof ballpark currently under construction across from Globe Life Park—but its former home will remain standing for other purposes. Those uses will include football games for the XFL’s Dallas Renegades, and soccer matches for USL League One’s North Texas SC.
To accommodate its new purpose, Globe Life Park has been undergoing a conversion project that involves changing multiple areas of the facility. That includes the playing surface, as the venue now sports a new synthetic turf in place of the natural-grass baseball field. The surface was has been installed, and was put to use by North Texas SC on Thursday for a clinic. More from NBC 5:
The synthetic field to be used by the new tenants at Arlington’s Globe Life Park is installed and got its first use Thursday.
Students with the Arlington Independent School District were treated to a clinic by the North Texas Soccer Club and were running through drills with the team when NBC 5 stopped by Thursday morning.
In addition to the installation of the new playing surface, the conversion project also includes seating renovations, the removal of the third base dugout and 18 lower rows of seating in the third base bowl to accommodate the north end of the field, and new/renovated locker rooms. The Renegades will begin play when the XFL launches next month, with their home opener scheduled for February 9.
Image, tweeted on January 16, courtesy Dallas Renegades.
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