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Eschewing quaintness and charm, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks looks big and is big. A fairly prominent part of the Phoenix skyline since near the end of the 21st century, Chase Field takes up a lengthy expanse of space in its part of the city and does so by looking like a large warehouse (albeit, a baseball-themed warehouse) whose walls conceal the large baseball grounds that lie within. And there can be no doubt here, those obscured confines are considerable as once inside them Chase Field reveals itself to be a mountain of a ballpark -- the stands reach 40 rows high down the lines in the upper level, and that's topped by a "mechanical level" upon which the venue's signature roof operates. Chase Field became the first ballpark in the USA to have a convertible top. Nine years after the only prior fully operational retractable roof debuted in Canada, a functionally similar but much quicker in its functioning roof ensured that baseball played in Arizona's desert environs could always be a pleasant proposition. The approximate open and shut time for Arizona's roof is a mere 4 minutes, which easily bests Toronto's time of 20 minutes and has more impressively remained the gold standard of open and shut quickness ever since, as the retractable-roofed ballparks that later opened in Houston, Miami, Milwaukee and Seattle can't do their thing in under 10 minutes. A heat-busting roof is a necessary amenity in Phoenix. A swimming pool is a novel one, but that's what Chase Field is probably best known for. The pool, which is strictly something that can be rented by groups, is in home run territory directly behind the outfield fence in right-center. Fans on the outfield concourse there can easily look down into the pool's area. Other notable amenities found here are an open year-round restaurant and sizable kids' play spot. The TGI Friday's outpost is in left field and close to the left field foul pole is the children's hangout, which is referred to as the Sandlot. There's plenty of dedicated territory for such things in a venue that has the 1.3 million square feet of space that Chase does. To give you an idea of the sheer size of the D-backs' place, the majors' most recently built retractable-roofed stadium, Marlins Park in Miami, has 928,000 square feet of total space. Because it's so big, Chase Field correspondingly has more seats than necessary. There are nearly 50,000 of them and downsizing to a more reasonable amount isn't really possible thanks to the mechanical level that ensures cover for everyone. Given its large capacity and the team’s generally tepid fandom, more seats are empty than filled for most games at Chase Field. But at least the seats are tilted toward home plate where they need to be. Additionally, although the seats beyond the outfield fence are all bleachers, those benches do have backs and those backs are slightly contoured to allow for extra comfort. Still, this is not a “warm and fuzzy” kind of place to watch a game in. Being the anti-bandbox that it is, Chase Field doesn't evoke comparisons to the sport’s affectionately dubbed “green cathedrals.” Intimate it ain't and you'll find old-timey only on the playing field of all places, as a dirt path connects the pitcher's mound to home plate. Such a scene is a throwback to the days when teams played at “grounds,” which was long before there was even a dream of a major league team in Arizona. All told, Chase Field is quite different from the nowadays norm. The Diamondbacks' public address announcer has even taken to referring to it as baseball's "most unique venue." Setting aside such nomenclature, baseball's biggest box is more like it...and liking it is affected by that vastness.
Chase Field Footnotes - Facts & Figures
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