PETCO Park

PETCO Park is an open-air stadium in downtown San Diego, California. Opened in 2004, it replaced Qualcomm Stadium as the home park of the San Diego Padres. The stadium is named after the pet food retailer PETCO, which paid for the naming rights. The construction cost of over $450 million was partially funded by the Centre City Development Corporation, the San Diego Redevlopment Agency, and the stadium is 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.

Related Topics:
Stadium - Downtown - San Diego, California - 2004 - Qualcomm Stadium - San Diego Padres - PETCO - Centre City Development Corporation - Gaslamp Quarter - San Diego Convention Center

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PETCO Park differentiates itself from 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.

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Architect 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 most outdoor baseball parks, in which the batter faces in a northeasterly direction, in this ballpark 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, and a view of Balboa Park, which contains the San Diego Zoo, beyond center field.

Related Topics:
Antoine Predock - San Diego Bay - Balboa Park - San Diego Zoo

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An excellent example of adaptive reuse, the Western Metal Supply Company Building, a hundred-year old 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 corner of the building serves as the left field foul-pole.

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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. When no games are being played the Park at the Park serves as a free local park for area residents.

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A 30-by-53 foot 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 Matrix scoreboard displaying animation and cheer graphics, lineups, stats, and game info. 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 while the third-base side is 3 feet by 252 feet.

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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 park's screens.

Related Topics:
High-definition - Standard-definition - Qualcomm Stadium - Cox

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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. In the first game ever played at PETCO park, on March 11, 2004, the San Diego State University Aztec baseball team, of which Gwynn is the head coach, notched a victory.

Related Topics:
Tony Gwynn - National League - 2004 - San Diego State University

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On September 29th, 2005, MLB Announced that Petco Park would host the Semi-Finals and the Finals of the 2006 World Baseball Classic.

Related Topics:
MLB - 2006 - World Baseball Classic

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