Chase Field

Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, is a baseball park located in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It is the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. It opened in 1998, in time for the Diamondbacks' first game as an expansion team. Chase Field was the first stadium built in the United States with a retractable roof over a natural-grass playing surface, which was replaced by synthetic turf in 2019.[9]

For the former military base, see Naval Air Station Chase Field. For the Magnapop album, see Chase Park.

Chase Field
The BOB,[1] The Snake Pit,[2]
The Aircraft Hangar[3]
Chase Field
Location in Arizona
Chase Field
Location in the United States
Former namesBank One Ballpark
(1998–2005)
Address401 East Jefferson Street
LocationPhoenix, Arizona
Coordinates33°26′43″N 112°4′1″W
Public transit Convention Center
OwnerMaricopa County Stadium District
OperatorSMG
Capacity48,686 (2017–present)[4]
48,519 (2015–2016)
48,633 (2011–2014)
48,652 (2009–2010)
48,711 (2008)
49,033 (2002–2007)
48,500 (1998–2001)
Record attendance50,180 (August 31, 2019)[5]
Field sizeLeft Field – 330 ft (101 m)
Left-Center – 374 ft (114 m)
Left-Center (deep) – 413 ft (126 m)
Center Field – 407 ft (124 m)
Right-Center (deep) – 413 ft (126 m)
Right-Center – 374 ft (114 m)
Right Field – 334 ft (102 m)
SurfaceGrass (1998–2018)[6]
Shaw Sports B1K (2019–present)
Construction
Broke groundNovember 16, 1995
OpenedMarch 31, 1998
22 years ago
Construction cost$354 million
($555 million in 2019 dollars[7])
ArchitectEllerbe Becket
Wyatt/Rhodes
Castillo Company
Cox James[8]
Project managerHuber, Hunt & Nichols Inc.
Structural engineerHatch Associates Ltd.[8]
Martin/Martin[8]
Services engineerM-E Engineers Inc.
General contractorPerini/McCarthy
Main contractorsSchuff Steel Company
Tenants
Arizona Diamondbacks (MLB) (1998–present)
Cactus Bowl (NCAA) (2000–2005, 2016–present)

History

The park was built during a wave of new, baseball-only parks in the 1990s. Although nearly all of these parks were open-air, it was taken for granted that a domed stadium was a must for a major-league team to be a viable venture in the Phoenix area. Phoenix is by far the hottest major city in North America; the average high temperature during baseball's regular season is 99.1 °F (37.3 °C), and game-time temperatures well above 100 °F (38 °C) are very common during the summer.

Stadium funding controversy

In the spring of 1994, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved a quarter percentage point increase in the county sales tax to pay for their portion of the stadium funding. This came about at a time that the county itself was facing huge budget deficits and lack of funding for other services. The sales tax being levied was very unpopular with local citizens, who were not allowed to vote on the issue of funding a baseball stadium with general sales tax revenue (usage of public subsidies for stadium projects was actually prohibited by a 1989 referendum). The issue was so controversial and divisive that in August 1997, Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox was shot and injured while leaving a county board meeting by Larry Naman, a homeless man, who attempted to argue in court that her support for the tax justified his attack. In May 1998, Naman was found guilty of attempted first-degree murder.[10]

Costs for the stadium were originally estimated at $279 million in 1995,[11] but cost overruns (in part because of rising prices for steel and other materials) pushed the final price to $364 million.[12] As part of the original stadium deal, the Diamondbacks were responsible for all construction costs above $253 million. These extra expenses, combined with the Diamondbacks and their fellow expansion franchise, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, not being allowed to share in the national MLB revenue for their first 5 years of operations, left the Diamondbacks in a less-than-desirable financial situation, which would come back to haunt team founder and managing partner Jerry Colangelo and his group later on.

Since 1998

Construction on the park began in 1996, and was finished just before the Diamondbacks' first season began, in 1998. It was the third MLB stadium to have a retractable roof and the first in the United States (at the time, only Toronto's SkyDome (now known as Rogers Centre) and Montreal's Olympic Stadium had them; others are now at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Miller Park in Milwaukee, T-Mobile Park in Seattle and Marlins Park in Miami). It was also the first ballpark to feature natural grass in a retractable roof stadium.

The stadium hosted Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 of the 2001 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees. The Diamondbacks won all four home games, winning the world championship in seven games, and thus denying the Yankees a fourth consecutive championship. It was the first time since 1991 that the home team won all home games of a World Series. The only other instance was 1987, both by the Minnesota Twins.

Chase Field was originally named Bank One Ballpark after Bank One of Chicago, Illinois, giving rise to its nickname "BOB". After Bank One merged with New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co., the name change was announced on September 23, 2005.

In March 2006, Chase Field played host to three first-round games of the World Baseball Classic.

Chase Field hosted the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 2011.[9]

Chase Field hosted the 2017 National League Wild Card Game between the Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies. This was the D-Backs' first appearance in the postseason as a Wild Card team. The D-Backs won 11-8 and advanced to the 2017 NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers but were swept in three games. Game 3 was held at Chase Field, when the D-Backs lost 3-1.

The pool at Chase Field as it appeared when it was sponsored by Ride Now Power Sports.

Chase Field also has a swimming pool located in right-center field, which is rented to patrons as a suite holding 35 guests for $3,500 per game during the 2011 season. Mark Grace was the first player to hit a home run into the pool.

Besides baseball, the pool has been used by Monster Jam's Jim Koehler to continue his tradition of swimming after Freestyle.[13] The ballpark also featured a dirt strip between home plate and the pitcher's mound. This dirt strip, sometimes known as the "keyhole", was very common in old-time ballparks up to 1938. The dirt strip was removed when synthetic turf was installed in 2019; today, Comerica Park is the only park to still have this.

The park's foul territory is somewhat larger than is the case for most ballparks built in the 1990s. With 80% of the seats in foul territory, the upper deck is one of the highest in the majors. The park's suites are tucked far under the third deck, which keeps the upper deck closer to the action, with the exception of their Dugout Suites which sit next to the home and visitor's dugouts.

Before the 2008 season began, a brand new HD scoreboard was installed beyond center field, replacing the original. The new scoreboard is 46 ft (14 m) high and 136 ft (41 m) wide and it cost $14 million. It is the fifth largest HD screen in Major League Baseball behind Kauffman Stadium. The screen at Kauffman is larger by overall area and is square in shape but Chase Field's screen is larger by length and is rectangular.[14][15]

Premium seating includes 4,400 club seats, 57 suites, 6 party suites, Executive suite, batters box suite, two dugout suites, and swimming pool.

The Diamondbacks and St. Louis Cardinals game on September 24, 2019 became the longest game in Chase Field's history. The game lasted six hours and 53 minutes in 19 innings.

On October 12, 2018, the Diamondbacks announced they would be replacing their natural grass surface with a synthetic surface from Shaw Sports Turf for the 2019 season.[16]

Notable events
Chase Field as viewed from the north

The stadium also hosts occasional concerts and international soccer games. For football and soccer, the field is set up with the end lines perpendicular to the third-base line and temporary bleachers added on the east side.

College sports

The organizers of the Insight.com Bowl elected to move their game from Arizona Stadium in Tucson to Phoenix beginning in 2000, and Chase Field became the game's host. In 2006, the bowl game moved to Sun Devil Stadium, to replace the Fiesta Bowl, which moved to State Farm Stadium in Glendale. The football configuration was notable because of the lack of nets behind the goalposts and the dugout behind the south end zone. The final Insight Bowl played at Chase was between the hometown Arizona State Sun Devils and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The bowl, now known as the Cheez-it Bowl, returned to Chase Field in January 2016 due to construction being done at Sun Devil Stadium.

Chase Field has staged nine women's college basketball games. The second game, which was played on December 18, 2006, was shortened by rain with four minutes and 18 seconds remaining and Arizona State leading Texas Tech 61–45. Venue staff closed the roof in an effort to finish the game, but officials deemed the court unsafe. In 2000, ASU played the Tennessee Volunteers at the same facility.[17]

In 2006, Chase Field was the site of the annual "Challenge at Chase", a college baseball game between Arizona State and University of Arizona, but the event occurred for only two years. The Arizona Wildcats won both contests in 2006 and 2007. There were no more “Challenge” games scheduled afterwards.[18][19]

Concerts
Date Artist Opening act(s) Tour / Concert name Attendance Revenue Notes
July 18, 2001NSYNCEden's Crush
Samantha Mumba
Dante Thomas		PopOdyssey Tour42,959 / 49,111$2,213,026
May 7, 2016Kenny ChesneyMiranda Lambert
Sam Hunt
Old Dominion		Spread the Love Tour47,922 / 48,700$3,412,908
June 23, 2018Kenny ChesneyThomas Rhett
Old Dominion
Brandon Lay		Trip Around The Sun Tour48,424 / 49,014$3,198,416
March 9, 2019Billy Joel—Billy Joel in Concert40,964 / 40,964$4,837,237First ever ballpark appearance in Arizona.[20]

Other events

In February 2006, the Professional Bull Riders hosted a Built Ford Tough Series bull riding event at this venue. Chris Shivers won this event with a total score of 181.5 points (out of a possible 200) on two bulls, including an impressive 93.75 (out of 100) points on Taylor Made bucking bull, Smokeless Wardance, in the short-go round. During the long-go round, the roof was closed, but during the short-go, the roof was opened.

The stadium has hosted Monster Energy Supercross rounds from 1999 to 2015.[21] Monster Jam came to Chase Field every year in late January about two weeks after Monster Energy Supercross. Both events moved to the University of Phoenix Stadium in 2016.

WWE hosted the Royal Rumble at Chase Field on January 27, 2019, marking nearly 16 years that a WWE event was held at a baseball stadium since WrestleMania XIX at Safeco Field in Seattle and the first Royal Rumble to be held outdoors.[22]

International women's soccer matches
DateCompetitionTeamResTeamCrowd
December 17, 2000 International Friendly  United States 1-1  Japan 12,039
Events and tenants
Preceded by
None		 Home of the
Arizona Diamondbacks
1998 – present		 Succeeded by
Current
Preceded by
Arizona Stadium
Sun Devil Stadium		 Home of the
Cheez-It Bowl
2001–2005
2015 – present		 Succeeded by
Sun Devil Stadium
Current
Preceded by
Angel Stadium of Anaheim		 Host of the
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
2011		 Succeeded by
Kauffman Stadium

Roof and cooling system
Aerial view of Chase Field and Phoenix from the south, on approach to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

Chase Field's roof is opened or closed depending on the game-time temperature. Even when the roof is closed, the park's windows allow enough sunlight to play in true daylight without overheating the stadium.

The roof, which takes just 4½ minutes to open or close at a cost of $2–$3, is closed three hours before game time using two 200-horsepower motors triggered from a control room in the upper deck above left-center field.[9] A massive HVAC system then drops the temperature inside the park to about 78 °F (25.5 °C) by the time the gates open. The chilled water system, which has cooling power equivalent to 2,500 homes of 2,000 square feet (190 m2), also serves more than 30 buildings in downtown Phoenix.[9] The cooling plant, located in a separate building right outside the ballpark, freezes water overnight to reduce daytime electricity demand.[9] Originally, the HVAC system didn't cool above row 25 of the upper level, exposing fans in the higher rows to the brunt of Phoenix' oppressive summer heat. Changes since then keep virtually all of the facility in air-conditioned comfort.[23]

Panoramic of Diamondbacks vs. Rockies game July 2, 2017

Transportation

Chase Field is served by Westbound METRO Rail's Washington at 3rd Street station and Eastbound METRO Rail's Jefferson at 3rd Street station.

Climate
Chase Field
Climate chart (explanation)
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
 
 
23
 
 
19
6
 
 
25
 
 
21
7
 
 
48
 
 
25
9
 
 
24
 
 
29
11
 
 
6
 
 
32
14
 
 
1
 
 
33
15
 
 
3
 
 
36
17
 
 
8
 
 
36
18
 
 
8
 
 
36
18
 
 
6
 
 
30
14
 
 
24
 
 
24
9
 
 
54
 
 
18
6
Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
Precipitation totals in mm
Source: [24]
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gollark: Infinitely so!

References
  1. "D. Baxter the Bobcat". Major League Baseball Advanced Media. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  2. "AllVenueTickets". Archived from the original on November 19, 2014. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
  3. "MLB-Stadiums.com: Chase Field". Archived from the original on April 15, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  4. O'Connell, Patrick (March 21, 2017). 2017 Arizona Diamondbacks Media Guide. Major League Baseball Advanced Media. p. 12.
  5. https://www.mlb.com/dbacks/news/streaking-d-backs-win-6th-straight-game
  6. "Come See the D-Backs Get New High Tech Turfgrass Installed at Chase Field This Wednesday Giving Them a "Home Field Advantage" for 2018 Season". February 26, 2018.
  7. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  8. Ellerbe Becket - Chase Field Archived March 23, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  9. Dodd, Mike (July 12, 2011). "Diamondbacks Are Experts at Keeping Heat at Bay". USA Today. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  10. Kelly, Charles (May 6, 1998). "Jury Finds Naman Guilty, Homeless Man Convicted of Attempted Murder In Shooting". The Arizona Republic. Archived from the original on August 4, 2007.
  11. Ballpark-Brick Sale to Offset Costs Bizjournals.com
  12. D-Backs Expect Skyrocketing Results From BOB Bizjournals.com
  13. "MonsterJam Results January 29, 2011". Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
  14. Craven, Scott (April 3, 2008). "Chase Field Offers D-Backs Fans A High-Def Welcome Back". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved April 4, 2008.
  15. Melanson, Donald (January 11, 2008). "Arizona Diamondbacks getting ginormous HD-X display from Daktronics". Engadget HD. Archived from the original on May 5, 2010. Retrieved September 20, 2010.
  16. "Arizona Diamondbacks installing synthetic grass at Chase Field". azcentral.com. October 12, 2018. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
  17. Garcia, José E. (December 19, 2006). "Sun Devils Brave Elements to Win". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved December 20, 2006.
  18. "Baseball Falls 12-8 in Challenge at Chase". Sun Devil Athletics. Arizona State University. April 2, 2006.
  19. Hicks, Devin (March 29, 2007). "Too many Devils left stranded". ASU Web Devil. Arizona State University.
  20. Billy Joel in concert March 9 at Chase Field. MLB.com. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  21. 2015 AMA Supercross media guide
  22. "Phoenix to host the 2019 WWE Royal Rumble Weekend". WWE. January 24, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  23. "History of Chase Field". home.utah.edu.
  24. "NASA Earth Observations Data Set Index". NASA. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
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