Exterior photo of Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. Home of the Texas Rangers.

Image Credit: Ben+Sam -Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Texas Rangers and city of Arlington have agreed on a funding and closing agreement for the team’s future ballpark. The 40,000 seat ballpark is expected to open in 2020 after the opening of an adjacent mixed-use development called “Texas Live!”. The development will feature retail, bars, restaurants and hotels; similar to Ballpark Village at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The agreement outlines the important steps that need to be taken in order for the new stadium to be funded and constructed.

The city of Arlington is expected to contribute $500 million for the construction of the ballpark by September, 2017. The Texas Rangers will contribute $50 million initially and that money must be paid upfront before receiving any other public funding via excess tax revenue. In all, the Texas Rangers will need to match the $500 million the city of Arlington is spending; construction costs are estimated to exceed $1 billion. The Texas Rangers will lease the stadium from the city of Arlington at $2 million per season and that money will be used to pay off city bonds. The Texas Rangers organization will also be responsible for all maintenance and operational costs involved with the new ballpark. The new lease will end in 2054 which will likely keep the Rangers in Arlington for many more years to come.

Photo taken from the upper level of the Globe Life Park in Arlington during a Texas Rangers game.

Image Credit: Rich Anderson (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Many baseball fans will agree that the Texas Rangers didn’t need a new home ballpark. Globe Life Park opened in 1994 and is only 23 years old. However, league officials seem to believe that the Rangers could improve their attendance numbers by offering a ballpark with a retractable roof to protect fans from the hot Texas summers. The ultimate motive is to build a new stadium that will allow the Texas Rangers to further capitalize on premium, suite and club seating packages.

The city of Arlington was almost forced to contribute money for the construction of a new stadium. If they didn’t, the city of Dallas would have swooped in and built the team a new stadium in downtown Dallas. According to the Dallas News, the new ballpark and Texas Live! development will generate nearly $80 million annually for the city of Arlington.

 

Reference: 

DallasNews.com 

 

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