-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Oakland A's and the teams future
- Thread starter Y2kTheNewOldies
- Start date
I'd like to hear from someone in PHX who has been on a day when it was over 110°. I know people who go to games there and have never heard the temperature inside the park commented on.
All good points now that Austin is off the list now. That area got lots of hype because Bay Area VC's made claims about moving there around the same time this was first proposed.
Las Vegas works out on this one.
If the air conditioning is properly serviced, it should be able to maintain 75 degrees in a dome. I do remember that both the Tampa Lightning and Florida Panthers had problems with the ice melting inside their arenas on super humid days...
Remember, summer humidity in PHX can even go down to single digits. And there is a big difference between being in the 80's and over 110°.
When I was going to ASU, I'd be first in line for class registration to get the 8 AM and 9AM classes so I could be home before 11! 3 PM in Phoenix when it could be 120° is not fun.
I know that in Phoenix it's a "dry heat". It's still unbearable when it's 115. Before the Cardinals had a dome, they rarely played home games in September. The NFL scheduled 3 of their first 4 games on the road due to the heat. The Texas Rangers played all night games in the Summer before they built their current retractable roof stadium.
The point is that the air conditioning needs to work at these facilities. Think about how your cars air conditioning struggles in severe heat...
I was there for a game in May 2002. 88 degrees outside, room temperature under the closed roof. Also went to two games at the Astrodome in June 1977, well over 90 both days, comfy under the dome. If air conditioning works in domed stadiums at 95, it must work at 110, otherwise we'd have seen plenty of complaints by now.
Which is why sports has multiple revenue streams, such as media contracts.
We used to go to Diamondbacks games in the middle of the summer. Even in monsoon season, the AC worked fine, even when we sat in the top row "Bob Uecker seats." But that was years ago. We haven't been to a game since COVID, and we sat in the lower deck bleachers for our last dozen or so games.
I’ve been to lots of Astros games at Minute Maid Park since it opened, and have never been uncomfortable. In fact, there were a few times when I was a little chilly as an air-conditioning vent was blowing right at us! We usually get upper level (400s) seats more or less behind home plate, so I can’t speak to conditions closer to field level. When walking along the lower concourse before the games the temperature is still pleasant.
My only complaint about MMP is that they don’t open the roof more often. It is a totally different experience with the sky above.
I saw an afternoon Texas Rangers game at their new Globe Life Field last July. Roof was closed; temperature outside was 105 but inside it was very comfortable.
I think the only retractable-dome stadium I can recall reading temperature complaints about was Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee. But that was years ago.
I have the same complaint against Reliant. The whole idea behind replacing a dome with a retractable roof was the ability to retract the roof. Problem being, they don't. Ever.
Globe Life is quite nice, and if I could suggest a trip to the old Rangers ballpark, Mediafrog, it's really something else to see with the new configuration and upgrades.
Hear, hear! Most franchises supposedly have an SOP that dictates when the roof will/will not be open, based on temperature, humidity, expected weather, etc. but I find that many keep the roof closed more often than not. It's most likely beause 1) It allows them to control the temperature and humidity inside, but also 2) Especially in older parks, the staff probably see keeping the roof in one position as much as possible as reducing the need for maintenance on the thing, and 3) It's also probably cheaper and easier to maintain the climate with the roof always closed vs. dealing with fluctuations and having to re-cool the place once the roof is moved.
That said, I've also been to ballparks on a Saturday evening in summer when they'd have the roof closed for the game, they'd open it after the final out for fans to watch the fireworks directly after, and then close it up again right away to prepare for the following day's afternoon contest.
The reason is it's expensive. I was in Milwaukee last year to see a game, and someone there told me it costs thousands of dollars to retract the roof. The day I was there, it was open, and very pleasant. I watched from my hotel as the roof was opened. It does take a while. June in Milwaukee is much milder than June in Las Vegas.
Last edited:
Assume you mean NRG Stadium. That has been a constant complaint of many Texans fans. During the Bill O’Brien era it was NEVER open, even with clear blue skies and pleasant 50-65 degree temperatures outside…ridiculous. Since then it might be open one game a year.
We had one sportstalk host here who loved to point out the silliness of spending $50M on a roof that was never opened.
The previous Rangers ballpark could be quite the oven in the summer. Beautiful place to see when it opened in 1994, and light years ahead of the Rangers original park, Arlington Stadium, whose gargantuan outfield stands were just bizarre.
Haven’t been inside what is now Choctaw Stadium since the Rangers moved across the street, but good to see it is still getting some use.
I would tend to doubt that. Never have heard any talk about that at either of the retractable roof stadiums here in Houston.
When Minute Maid Park was brand new (it was Enron Field then) I was at an Astros game that began with the roof closed, but it was opened for the late innings of the game. I believe that was the first baseball game to be played both indoors and outdoors.
The roof at MMP takes 12 minutes to open or close.
The design for American Family Field is one that was originally rejected in Phoenix in 1994, in favor of the airplane hangar that is Chase Field. One reason I remember was that it was too expensive to build and maintain, especially the fan-shaped roof.
This was actually a trivia question at T-Mobile Park in Seattle last year. The answer? $7 to close the roof.
That certainly wasn't mentioned in the original sales pitch to replace the Astrodome. Last I heard from someone in the know down there, the roof on NRG is currently non-functional. It was damaged in one of the tropical storms, and the repairs are deemed too costly for a stadium that the ownership will most certainly deem unfit for NFL standards within the next 8-10 years. Let that sink in, Houstonians.
That's the unfortunate future you face, and know that any potential upgrades to NRG are not going to suffice. This is exactly what Mayor Bob Lanier saw coming when he put the cowboy boot squarely up the posterior of Bud Adams, all those years ago.
Doubtful. Minute Maid Park opened in 2000. Chase Field opened in 1998. There were lots of games going back to '98 where the roof was either opened or closed during a game, depending on weather.