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PETCO Park

Located in sunny San Diego, the Padres play in one of the best settings in baseball. With an aging Jack Murphy Stadium and having to share it with the San Diego Chargers, the Padres needed a ballpark of their own. By the late 1990s the team began to build support for a new ballpark. After making it to the World Series in 1998, the voters of San Diego approved a bond to allow construction of a ballpark in downtown San Diego. Originally, the 42,445 seat stadium was scheduled to open in 2002. However, in October 2000 funding for the construction of the ballpark ended and was halted for more than a year. In November 2001, the City of San Diego approved a 166 million dollars bond in order for construction to resume.

The San Diego Padres played their first game at Petco Park on April 8, 2004 against the San Francisco Giants. The 411 million dollars ballpark is built of stucco, brick and steel. Petco Park is a baseball only stadium with a grass field. Leading up to the entrance of the ballpark, fans pass by a palm court, water walls, and jacaranda trees. Once inside the new ballpark, all fans have an excellent view of the field. All of the 42,500 blue seats are close to the field and are angled toward the pitchers mound. Located on top of the building are 800 bleachers that provide tremendous views of the ballpark.

These bleachers can be retracted in order for the area to be turned into a party area for fans. The main scoreboard sits above the seats in left field. Another scoreboard makes up part of the right field fence. Additional seating can be found above the right field wall where there are two levels of seating. Directly behind the centerfield fence are the Padres bullpen and the beach where fans can relax stretching out on the ground watching the game by sitting or lying on sand.

Several unique 200 foot towers supporting the grandstand and extending above the main grandstand support the lights for the playing field and house luxury suites and lounges. A Padres Hall of Fame, 250 seat auditoriums, kid’s entertainment zone and theater are also located at Petco Park. Fans of all ages enjoy coming out to Petco Park for some fun and exciting Padres baseball.

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