Texas Rangers declare Globe Life Field 98% complete amid a concert before the concert
In less than two weeks, the inaugural event at Globe Life Field, the Texas Rangers’ $1.2-billion, retractable-roof stadium, will host a Chris Stapleton and Willie Nelson concert. However, Wednesday morning there were sounds of a different sort, with the whirring of drills and the clanging of heavy tools echoing through the cavernous space.
Officials overseeing the project declared the venue to be 98% complete, as a crew of about 1,700 workers continue to work feverishly inside, outside and on top of the 40,300-seat complex. The final sections of seats in the lower bowl down the left-field line were being installed Wednesday morning.
The synthetic grass field has been installed and it will be protected under special flooring for the March 14 concert. The stage will be erected in center field and about 9,000 floor seats will be set up in the infield and shallow outfield. The pitcher’s mound, which is retractable, has already been built but will sit below the playing surface for events such as the concert. The infield dirt has yet to be put down.
After the concert, more Geofill material — a substance that kind of looks like dirt, but which is made of ground coconut husks and sand — will be added to the stadium grass. “We were challenged with coming up with the best playing surface for baseball,” said Chuck McClurg, of Shaw Sports Turf, the company that provided the synthetic grass field. “Combined with the proper moisture level it allows us to tune the infield and really mimic a well-manicured natural grass playing environment.”
The roof was scheduled to be opened Wednesday but that was pushed to Thursday because of rain. Rob Matwick, the Rangers vice president of business operations, said the rain was actually good because it allowed them to weather test for leaks. Seal work has been ongoing for the entire roof structure. As of noon Wednesday, Matwick had not received reports of any leaks.
Manhattan Construction, the firm hired to build the stadium, hopes to open and close the roof every day until March 14 to test the mechanism and finalize the controls and communication with the roof control room.
Meanwhile, interior construction throughout the park is ongoing. The flooring on the main concourse is expected to be finished this weekend. More than 75 trucks are unloading furniture, which will be used from luxury suites to field-view restaurants and lounges. Landscaping and hardscaping around the exterior of the ballpark is nearly complete.
Information technology infrastructure, including wireless access points and broadcast equipment in the television and radio booths are currently being installed and tested. “We’re still pressing to get all of the IT infrastructure in,” Matwick said. “We’re going to do a lot of cleaning this weekend, which is good news.”
Matwick expects that all of the these projects will be complete by the March 23 exhibition game. The March 14 concert, which has already sold about 38,000 tickets — a near sell-out — will give the ballpark a strong test run.
Earlier, in the day the Rangers hosted a media event to dedicate a statue of Pudge Rodriguez, the Hall of Fame catcher who played for the Rangers from 1991 to 2002, outside the southwest entrance of the ballpark. The Rangers also announced several new sponsors for the coming season.
The first baseball game will be played on March 23, when the Rangers host the St. Louis Cardinals in a preseason game at 7:05 p.m. The next day at 1:05 p.m., the Rangers will play a second exhibition game, this time against the club’s future stars.
The Rangers will open the regular season on road with a four-game series against the Seattle Mariners starting March 26. The team’s first regular-season game at Globe Life Field will be against the Los Angeles Angels on March 31 at 3:05 p.m. (Single-game ticket sales begin on Friday.)
