Major League Baseball franchise the Texas Rangers shared a video yesterday proudly unveiling the completed exterior of Globe Life Field, a new $1.1 billion Arlington stadium with a retractable roof that will replace Globe Life Park, a less than 30-year-old retro-style facility designed by David M. Schwarz located directly across the street. The new climate-controlled stadium’s retractable roof is a key feature as spectators at the open Globe Life Park were prone to baking in the sweltering summer Texas heat. The team had previously revealed the 40,300-capacity ballpark’s interior to a mostly positive—if not slightly muted—response.
All the way up ⬆️⬆️ pic.twitter.com/WNDtFP79QF
— Globe Life Field (@GlobeLifeField) June 23, 2020
The reception to aerial footage of the HKS-designed stadium’s exterior, however, has resulted in a bench-clearing social media pile-on, with commentators comparing the building from everything to a “municipal airport cropduster repair hangar” to a megachurch that “married a livestock auction barn and had a baby.” The stadium’s likeness to a disposable aluminum roasting pan, a very apropos comparison in this instance, has also come up multiple times around the Twitterverse.
Here’s just a small sampling:
instagram vs. real life pic.twitter.com/juIVh34hAO
— nick pants (@stnap_kcin) June 24, 2020
Everyone seems to love the Texas Rangers’ new stadium. pic.twitter.com/uaA9LrbtpT
— Dave Schilling (@dave_schilling) June 24, 2020
Smart of the Rangers to future-proof their new stadium… pic.twitter.com/YJ0Ijmx1zM
— Bryan (@NachoHelmet) June 24, 2020
Yo, the @Rangers really based the new park’s design on the Chernobyl Sarcophagus???? That seems like a bad omen. pic.twitter.com/UnMcgq8Hza
— The Big D Rusty Shackleford アダム (@TwoBitWhackJob) June 24, 2020
This is the steakhouse where you pick the cow you want to eat https://t.co/vFZhqa8WtB
— dolphin pilot (@TheAmitie) June 24, 2020
New look of the Rangers new stadium pic.twitter.com/zg5Eulwp4z
— Albert Rios (@A_Rios08) June 24, 2020
Texas Rangers new ballpark pic.twitter.com/XIgT165b4H
— wash your hAndys (@_rallycap) June 24, 2020
— marty, cloud solutions architect for antifa (@nohuddlenerd) June 24, 2020
The Rangers play in an ambandoned Sam’s Club while the Astros play in this beauty 😂 pic.twitter.com/w2MWenQ6aQ
— LIL UZI SQUIRT🇨🇴 (@Fonzo_Ball) June 24, 2020
This is truly unspeakable. The fake rendering they used to sell it was pretty bad architecture to start with, but the reality is even worse. Baseball should not be played inside a barn/airplane hangar/mall. https://t.co/K9ab20FYjJ
— Paul Goldberger (@paulgoldberger) June 25, 2020
The 40,300–seatcapacity Globe Life Field was slated to open to for official play in March but that has since been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, although the facility has hosted graduation ceremonies. The regular MLB season is anticipated to resume either July 23 or 24 according to the organization, although even those dates seem to be in flux. Texas is still being ravaged by COVID-19, prompting Governor Greg Abbott to hit the breaks on further statewide reopening efforts.
Headquartered in Dallas, HKS has designed numerous other major league sports facilities including the under-construction SoFi Stadium, future home of the L.A. Rams, in Inglewood, California; Arlington’s AT&T Stadium, home to the Dallas Cowboys, and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, a Super Bowl LII-hosting venue that references the city’s Nordic heritage but unfortunately also kills a lot of birds.
