How did construction affect parking on Texas Rangers' Opening Day?

Parking headaches were expected for Texas Rangers fans on Opening Day.

The new Globe Life Park is under construction across the street, as well as the new mixed-use entertainment district Texas Live!, wiping away a number of convenient parking spaces.

The Rangers tried to encourage fans to arrive early to avoid parking problems, but it was inevitable that a handful of fans would experience issues. And some weren’t too pleased about it.

“It’s very confusing right now,” Bedford resident Emily Brock said. Said Katie Fagan of Chicago: “I had to park across I-30 and jog all the way across to the tailgate. Parking took over an hour. I got unlucky. Right before I pulled into Lot F, the last spot was taken.

"I parked at a random hotel across the interstate. I tried to park at Hurricane Harbor and offered to pay $50, but they said no.”

Fans who arrived well ahead of the 2:40 p.m. first pitch, of course, had little trouble getting a parking spot and into the stadium.

Lindsay Sutton of Bonham arrived at 8:30 a.m. and was among the first fans in attendance.

Francisco Castaneda of Fort Worth had no troubles with an 11:30 a.m. arrival.

“It wasn’t too bad. It was pretty easy to get into,” said Castaneda, who owns District Barbershop. “I know my friends got here around 12 or 12:30 and it was a little tougher to park.”

The Rangers opened parking lots at 9:35 a.m., five hours before first pitch, and stadium gates at 11:35 a.m., three hours before. the first pitch.

Rob Matwick, the Rangers’ executive vice president of business operations, felt the parking situation was similar to most opening days. The team tried to give fans plenty of notice to arrive early in order to get a parking spot with ease. Lot F, a cash lot north of the ballpark, filled up.

But there were open spaces in Lot R, the latest parking lot added south of where the new Globe Life Park is being constructed, as well as access to AT&T Stadium lots 4, 12 and 13.

“I wouldn’t say there were issues,” Matwick said. “We park a lot of cars on opening day. This is not unusual. It happens pretty much every opening day.”

Matwick estimated that the construction on the new stadium and Texas Live! cost the team approximately 2,500 parking spaces. But they added Lot R, which has about 2,000 spaces, so the net loss is about 500 spaces.

Still, fans experienced the typical opening day congestion.

Azle’s Jeff Rider arrived around noon and had to make a circle around the stadium before landing a spot at the city’s convention center.

Fort Worth’s Eric Surita endured confusion when he tried to park in the convention center, but saw a sign that said “no ballpark parking.”

Eventually, though, they let him in.

“I’ve never seen all the lots filled up like this,” Surita said. “I don’t know if it’s cause the World Series champs [Houston Astros] are in town, or obviously the new stadium has something to do with it. But every lot we knew we could park at was full.”

Mansfield’s Art Muzzicato had a frustrating parking experience, too. He entered a lot, but realized within five minutes his friends had parked elsewhere. The parking attendant told him it shouldn’t be an issue switching lots, but that proved to be untrue.

“The guy told us, ‘Yes, just drive around the corner and they’ll let you into [the other lot],’” Muzzicato said. “So I got down there and the other attendant said, ‘Hell no, you’re not coming in.’ I tried to pay the difference of what it would cost to park here, but he said nope. I was like, ‘OK. Forget it. Done.’ I wasted 45 minutes that I’ll never get back.”

This story was originally published March 29, 2018 at 4:37 PM with the headline "How did construction affect parking on Texas Rangers' Opening Day?."