I interviewed one of the people at AFF in Milwaukee. He said it takes 45 minutes and $8K to open or close the roof.
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Oakland A's and the teams future
- Thread starter Y2kTheNewOldies
- Start date
I interviewed one of the people at AFF in Milwaukee. He said it takes 45 minutes and $8K to open or close the roof.
Skydome (Rogers Centre) in Toronto was one of the earliest retractable roof stadiums. It takes about 15 minutes to open and close. It seems like the point of having this type of design is to offer the best of both worlds. Open in good weather and closed for inclement days. Many people used to complain about places like the Kingdome and Astrodome as being "sterile and dark" especially with the Astroturf surface.
The problem with some of these places mentioned like NRG is the technical and structural problems that can occur. Olympic Stadium in Montreal tried a retractable roof like Toronto, but it ended up damaged. They had to permanently keep the roof closed. The Expos ended up leaving town in 2004...
The problem with some of these places mentioned like NRG is the technical and structural problems that can occur. Olympic Stadium in Montreal tried a retractable roof like Toronto, but it ended up damaged. They had to permanently keep the roof closed. The Expos ended up leaving town in 2004...
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NRG, and thanks for the clarification as old habits die hard, takes 10 minutes to open or close. So, after a brief discussion, I am behind the times. NRG's roof has been repaired and is indeed operational again. It was closed from November 2014 until November 2020. For 6 years, it indeed remained closed and non functional. The reason that the McNairs like for the roof to be closed, and get this, is because of crowd noise. With the roof closed, the argument is that the decibel level within the stadium is vastly increased, to the point where management feels it gives the home team enough of an advantage to justify never opening the $450 million top.
At least the Astrodome had a translucent roof, which was nice for afternoon games. And it could be quite interesting during night games when a lightning storm was going on outside.
I never had any issues with baseball at the Astrodome, but will quickly say that MMP is a far superior facility. However the Astrodome was awful for football, with the seats being too far away from the field…same problem as other multipurpose stadiums built in that era.
Temperatures in the seating areas of the Astrodome were usually pleasant, but the cramped concourses often smelled like a locker room.
Haha! Indeed they did. Let's not forget, heading to the box office, grabbing your ticket, making your way through those musty concourses, arriving at your seat with a dome foam in one hand, and a tray of nachos in the other, only to find a large concrete pillar directly impeding your line of view.
Good times! 😄
And unfortunately, makes up roughly one quarter to one third of the overall revenue pie for a regular season. Either way, losing that percentage all at once is a tough blow when it happens.
Even earlier than that. SkyDome in Toronto.
I would love to visit an alternate universe where the “Dodger Dome” would have been built in the 1950s: Proposed domed Brooklyn Dodgers stadium - Wikipedia
Wonder why it costs so much in Milwaukee? At the Seattle stadium it takes 12-18 minutes (depends upon wind) and there are a total of 96 10HP electric motors available to handle the movement, though in most cases they can get by with only a fraction of those in operation. Hence the 7 dollar figure.
What I have learned in running a business is that there are two costs: Actual cost, and the cost you charge someone else. My sense is the $7 figure is strictly the cost of electricity, and does not take into account the manpower of operating the roof.
Yeah, there definitely can be a couple of different ways to come up with this total. They may be amortizing the cost of maintaining the roof, or a contractor has found a new and exciting way to leverage the public/private partnership. Or any of a number of other accounting devices.
I actually got to close the roof one time on a tour of the place. The physical manpower involved me twisting a knob while pushing it in. LOL
I actually got to close the roof one time on a tour of the place. The physical manpower involved me twisting a knob while pushing it in. LOL
I agree, retractable roofs have proven to be a boondoggle by lack of usage. The Indianapolis Colts have occupied a retractable roof stadium for 15 years, and I bet it has been opened less than once per season on average. The weather in Indianapolis is usually quite pleasant in September and October, turning cooler into November. The other big problem is the shadows cast by the roof when open are extreme, which makes the stadium look bad on TV.
Evidently that's not what the A's organization thinks, as they're potentially about to implode the Tropicana and build on that very site. Per several articles going back a few years, the Tropicana resort sits on 34 acres. According to the story below, they only need about 9 acres of that for the ballpark. They'll use the rest to build a hotel, parking and other facilities. This indicates the current Tropicana site offers ample room for a ballpark with room to spare.
Well I hope you did enjoy it. It appears "the Trop", which dates back to 1957, which makes it 66 years old at this point, may soon be demolished and become the A's new home:
A's reportedly land on new Tropicana Las Vegas stadium site after pulling out of 'binding' agreement
A's reportedly land on new Tropicana Las Vegas stadium site after pulling out of 'binding' agreement
The A's have a new deal that will put their stadium right on the Las Vegas Strip.
sports.yahoo.com
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The article says it will be a 35,000 seat retractable roof stadium. That might make it the smallest stadium in MLB. Smaller than some AAA teams.
I don't have time to look them up this morning, but if I'm not mistaken, the 2 current smallest are PNC Park in Pittsburgh, and Loan Depot Park in Miami.
They're both bigger by about 2,000 seats.
What AAA teams might those be? Occasionally, minor league teams have played in large-capacity stadiums, but I don't think any have played in one for a full season since Denver got the Rockies and the AAA Zephyrs left Mile High Stadium. That was about 30 years ago.
For example, the stadium in Williamsport where they play the Little League World Series seats 40,000 people. Here's a list of stadum seating, from the largest, which ironically is Oakland:
List of U.S. baseball stadiums by capacity - Wikipedia
Little League is not AAA, and while Williamsport has had minor league teams, none of them were AAA and none played in that stadium. The one-off game there last year, between major league teams, doesn't make it a major or minor league stadium. The largest AAA ballpark on the list you cite is the 16,000-seater in Buffalo.For example, the stadium in Williamsport where they play the Little League World Series seats 40,000 people. Here's a list of stadum seating, from the largest, which ironically is Oakland:
List of U.S. baseball stadiums by capacity - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org