PETCO Park
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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. It also hosts the USA Sevens international event every year. 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 construction cost of over $450 million was partially funded by the Centre City Development Corporation, the San Diego Redevelopment 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.
Waterfall entrance at PETCO Park. PETCO Park differentiates itself from other MLB 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.
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 ballparks, 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.
The interior of PETCO Park with the San Diego skyline in background.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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Digeo State Aztec baseball team, of which Gwynn is the head coach, notched a victory.
The stadium offers fans the chance to purchase bricks outside of the concourse and dedicate them. Soon after this, PETA bought a brick and protesting PETCO's treatment of animals, tried to sneak a secret message into the engraving. It said, "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.
On March 18 and 20, 2006, the ballpark hosted the Semi-Finals and the Finals of the first World Baseball Classic.
[edit] Picture Gallery
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