The finishing touches are coming into place at Globe Life Field, as a scaled-down construction crew takes plenty of precautions in completing the new Texas Rangers home amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic led to the postponement or cancellation of many large public gatherings around the United States, the retractable-roof Globe Life Field was have to opened March 14 for a concert featuring Chris Stapleton (ultimately postponed until November) before hosting Rangers exhibition games next week. Although it is now looking like the Major League Baseball season will be delayed until around Memorial Day at the earliest, the finishing touches are still coming into place at Globe Life Field.
That is according to an update this week from the Rangers, who also noted that plenty of precautions are being into place as construction moves toward its conclusion. The size of the construction crew is hundreds of workers smaller than it was throughout much of the construction process, while the work that remains does not require sizable groups of workers to operate in close proximity to one another. More from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
The last major project is completing installation of the synthetic playing surface, which is on scheduled to be completed by Saturday. The rest of the work is mostly punch-list items that don’t require large groups working in close proximity, said Rangers executive vice president Rob Matwick….
Matwick estimated that the ballpark is more than 98 percent complete. Of the remaining work, some wireless technology is still being installed and MLB is testing the Hawk-Eye SMART Replay technology, which is replacing TrackMan radar, this week.
While a workforce under 1,000 workers seems large, it’s down from the 1,500 or 1,600 workers who had been working on the ballpark throughout the process.
“They’re spread across the project — inside, outside, on all levels,” Matwick said. “It sounds like a big number, but they’re not working shoulder to shoulder like you would have people sitting at a concert.”
Globe Life Field will be ready to put to use once it is determined when the Rangers can resume organized workouts, but the question of when it will host its first game remains unanswered, as there are still numerous uncertainties surrounding the 2020 MLB slate. The ballpark’s first regular-season game was originally scheduled for March 31.
Rendering courtesy Texas Rangers and HKS.
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