Petco Park

Infobox_Baseball_Stadium
stadium_name = PETCO Park


location = 100 Park Boulevard
San Diego, California 92101
broke_ground = Summer 2000
opened = April 8, 2004
closed =
demolished =
owner = City of San Diego (70%);
San Diego Padres (30%)
operator =
surface = Grass
construction_cost = $450 million
architect = HOK Sport; Antonie Predock (design); Spurlock Poirier (landscape); ROMA (urban planning)
contract = San Diego Ballpark Builders (a partnership of Clark Construction, Nielsen Dillingham and Douglas E. Barnhart, Inc.) former_names =
tenants = San Diego Padres (MLB) (2004-present)
USA Sevens (IRB) (2007-present)
seating_capacity = 42,445 (2004)
dimensions = Left Field Line - 334 ft / 101.8 m
Left Field - 367 ft / 111.9 m
Left Field Alley - 402 ft / 122.5 m
Center Field - 396 ft / 120.7 m
Right Field Alley - 402 ft / 122.5 m
Right Field - 382 ft / 116.4 m
Right Field Line - 322 ft / 98.1 m

PETCO Park is an open-air stadium in downtown San Diego, California. It opened in 2004, replacing Qualcomm Stadium as the home park of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres. Before then, the Padres shared Qualcomm Stadium with the NFL's San Diego Chargers. The stadium is named after the animal and pet supplies retailer PETCO, which is based in San Diego and paid for the naming rights. Since the retailer spells its name in all capital letters, mere initial capitalization as "Petco Park" is not correct.

The ballpark is located between 7th and 10th Avenues, south of J Street. The southern side of the stadium is bounded by San Diego Trolley tracks along the north side of Harbor Drive (which serve the adjacent San Diego Convention Center). The portion of K Street between 7th and 10th is now closed to automobiles, and serves as a pedestrian promenade along the back of the left and center field outfield seating (and providing access to the "Park at the Park" behind center field), with the stadium's two outfield entrance areas located at its intersections with 7th and 10th Avenues. The main entrance, behind home plate, is at the south end of 10th Avenue (at Imperial) and facing the San Diego Trolley light-rail terminal at 12th and Imperial.

Features and design

PETCO Park differentiates itself from many other Major League ballparks built in the same era by eschewing "retro"-style red brick and green seats. The stadium is clad in Indian sandstone and stucco; its exposed steel is painted white and the 42,445 fixed seats are dark blue. The design is meant to evoke the sandy color of San Diego cliffs and beaches, the blue of the ocean, and the white sails of boats on the nearby bay.Fact|date=June 2007

Architects HOK Sport and Antoine Predock's design pulled restaurants, administrative offices and other amenities away from the seating bowl itself into other buildings surrounding the bowl. As a result, the ballpark's concourses are open not only to the playing field but also to the surrounding city. Unlike many outdoor ballparks, in which the batter faces northeast, at PETCO the batter faces due north, and fans in the grandstands are treated to a view of San Diego Bay and the San Diego skyline beyond the left field seats, as well as a view of Balboa Park, which contains the San Diego Zoo, beyond center field. The "San Diego Union-Tribune" honored the ballpark in 2006 with an Orchid award for its design. [cite web|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20061117-2005-20061118-9999-orchidsonionslist.html |title=Full list of Orchids and Onions awards |date=2006-11-18 |publisher="The San Diego Union-Tribune"]

The official address of PETCO Park is 19 Tony Gwynn Way, in honor of the eight-time National League batting champion who wore that uniform number during his entire major league career with the Padres. A 10-foot statue of Gwynn was unveiled on the stadium grounds on July 21, 2007.

The "Park at the Park", a grassy berm sloping above the outfield fence, is open during game time, allowing fans to sit and watch games for a small price of $5. When no games are being played, the Park at the Park serves as a free local park for area residents. An unusual feature that PETCO Park has is that one of the bullpens is behind the walls in the outfield while the other bullpen is in foul territory. The bullpen for the Padres is located behind the left-center field wall while the bullpen for the visiting is in foul territory on the first base side.

A 30-by-53 foot (9 x 16 m) LED video board, dubbed FriarVision, offers high-resolution replays and graphics, even in direct sunlight. Atop FriarVision in the left-field stands is a 34-by-80 foot (10.4 x 24.4 m) Matrix scoreboard displaying animation and cheer graphics, lineups, stats, and game information. Along the upper concourses are LED fascia video boards showing animation and graphics. The one along the first-base side is 3 feet by 236 feet (1 x 72 m) while the third-base side is 3 feet by 252 feet (1 x 77 m).

An excellent example of adaptive reuse, the Western Metal Supply Co. building, a hundred-year old brick structure that had been scheduled for demolition to make way for PETCO Park, was saved and incorporated into the design of the ballpark. The building was renovated and contains the team store, private suites, a restaurant and rooftop seating. The southeast corner of the building serves as the left field foul pole, and is protected by a strip of bright yellow angle iron.

Fans in concession stands, in bars, restaurants or wandering the stands can watch the action on 244 high-definition TV monitors and an additional 500 standard-definition TVs. More than 500 computer-controlled speakers throughout the park deliver the sound as a "distributed signal," eliminating the audio delay from a central bank of speakers, such as the system at Qualcomm Stadium. Four stationary cameras, one roving camera and use of six Cox-TV cameras provide videos for the park's screens.

History

Construction

The ballpark was constructed by San Diego Ballpark Builders, a partnership with Clark Construction, Nielsen Dillingham and Douglas E. Barnhart, Inc. The construction cost of over $450 million was partially funded by the Center City Development Corporation and the San Diego Redevelopment Agency. The stadium was intended to be part of a comprehensive plan to revitalize San Diego's aging downtown, particularly the East Village area east of the Gaslamp Quarter. The stadium is located across Harbor Drive from the San Diego Convention Center, and its main entrance behind home plate is located two blocks from the downtown terminal of the San Diego Trolley light rail system.

The ballpark was originally scheduled to open for the 2002 season; however, construction was temporarily suspended for legal and political reasons. One portion of this was a court decision which nullified a ballot proposition which had already been passed (approving the city's portion of the stadium financing package), and required that the proposition be put to the voters a second time. Another delay resulted from the Western Metal Supply Co. building being declared a historic landmark, which prevented its demolition. After court hearings, it was determined that its landmark status only applies to the exterior facade, as it was supported entirely by panoramic photographs of the early San Diego skyline, and the building was renovated and included in the stadium design in an example of adaptive reuse.

The resulting delays required the Padres to play the 2002 and 2003 seasons at Qualcomm Stadium.

Events and milestones

The first baseball game ever played at PETCO Park, on March 11, 2004, was the first game of a four-team NCAA invitational tournament hosted by San Diego State University. The San Diego State Aztecs baseball team, of which retired Padres player Tony Gwynn was the head coach, were the winning team.

On April 15, 2004 Mark Loretta hit the first Padre home run off of Hideo Nomo of the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was caught by Mike Hill, a bartender at the Kansas City Barbecue.

The stadium's first concert came on November 11, 2005, when it hosted The Rolling Stones.

On March 18 and 20, 2006, the ballpark hosted the semi-finals and finals of the first World Baseball Classic.

In February 2007, PETCO Park became the new host of the USA Sevens, a rugby union sevens event within the IRB Sevens World Series. Previous editions of the USA Sevens had been held at The Home Depot Center in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson.

On April 17, 2008, the Padres and Rockies played in a 22-inning game, by far the longest game in PETCO Park history. The Rockies won the game by a score of 2-1. It was the longest MLB game in nearly 15 years

On November 4, 2008, Madonna will perform her Sticky and Sweet Tour at PETCO Park. This will mark the first time in 23 years that Madonna brings a tour to San Diego since The Virgin Tour in 1985.

PETA protest

During the construction of the stadium, the Padres offered fans the chance to purchase bricks outside of the concourse and to dedicate them. Soon after this, PETA bought a brick and protested PETCO's treatment of animals by sneaking a secret message into the engraving. The brick read, "Break Open Your Cold Ones! Toast The Padres! Enjoy This Championship Organization!" The first letter of each word spelled out the message, "BOYCOTT PETCO." The Padres decided to leave the brick there, saying not enough people walking by would notice the secret meaning. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportsbusiness/news/story?id=1783769 ESPN - Secret message makes it into new park - Sportsbusiness ] ]

Photo Gallery

References

External links

* [http://www.petcoparkevents.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.petcoparkinsider.com/ PETCO Park Insider: Guide to Padres games at PETCO Park]
* [http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/index.jsp?c_id=sd The Official Site of the San Diego Padres]

succession box
title = Home of the
San Diego Padres
years = 2004 – present
before = Qualcomm Stadium
after = Current