Architect: HOK Sport (Kansas City)
Construction: Mortenson and Barton Malow (Southfield, MI)
Owner: Denver Metropolitan Baseball Stadium District
Cost: $215 million
Public financing: $168 million, or 78 percent, from a one-tenth-of-a-percent sales tax in a six-county region
Private financing: $47 million, or 22 percent, from Rockies owners

Colorado Rockies tickets:

• Viewpoint Tickets - Best prices on Rockies tickets, Baseball tickets and MLB All Star tickets.

Dimensions: Left field: 347 ft.; left-center: 390 ft.; center field: 415 ft.; right-center: 375 ft.; right field: 350 ft.; backstop: 56 ft..

Fences: 17 ft. in right field; 8 ft. elsewhere.

Built two blocks from Union Station in Denver's Lower Downtown, Coors Field was the first new stadium in the National League since Montreal’s Stade Olympique opened in 1977. It was the NL's first new park built exclusively for baseball since Dodger Stadium in 1962. The Rockies spent their first two seasons in the Denver Broncos' Mile High Stadium, where they set 12 attendance records. The new ballpark does not have the capacity to hold 80,000 people, as Mile High did, however.

Coors Field attempts to combine the comforts of a modern stadium with the atmosphere of the old-time ballparks. It is constructed with hand-laid brick and has an old-fashioned clock tower atop its main entrance. It is asymmetrical, with the deepest part of the park (424 feet) in right-center field, and balls that hit the big out-of-town scoreboard in right field are in play. The two bullpens sit side-by-side next to the scoreboard in right-center and are elevated. The natural grass field can drain 5 inches of water per hour, and there is a heating system under the field that melts snow the moment it hits the ground. Concession stands in the concourse are laid out so that a fan can walk 360 degrees around the stadium and never lose sight of the field.

Coors Field Trivia:

• Site of the 1998 All-Star game.
• Located approximately two miles from Mile High Stadium, home of the Rockies in 1993 and 1994.
• Groundbreaking for the new stadium took place on October 16, 1992.
• Originally designed to include 43,800 seats, record crowds in 1993 convinced Rockies ownership to expand the original plans. The updated park holds 50,000 fans, including 63 luxury boxes and 4,500 club-level seats.
• Matrix and color replay boards in left field and a hand-operated "Out-of-Town" scoreboard in the right field fence.
• A row of purple seats ring the park to mark a spot that it is exactly 5,280 feet above sea level.
• Rico Brogna slammed the first home run ever hit here on April 26, 1995. It was a solo shot in the top of the 4th inning of the first game ever played at Coors Field.
• Hideo Nomo threw the only no-hitter ever pitched here on September 17, 1996.
• Financed by the taxpayers of the Denver Metropolitan Major League Baseball District and leased to the Rockies. The District will own the stadium and all operating and maintenance costs will be paid by the Rockies.

More on Coors Field:

• Seating chart

Recommended Reading (bibliography):

• Places Around the Bases: A Historic Tour of the Coors Field Neighborhood by Diane Bakke and Jackie Davis.
• Fodor's Baseball Vacations, 3rd Edition: Great Family Trips to Minor League and Classic Major League Ballparks Across America by Bruce Adams and Margaret Engel.
• The Ultimate Baseball Road-Trip: A Fan's Guide to Major League Stadiums by Joshua Pahigian and Kevin O'Connell.
• Joe Mock's Ballpark Guide by Joe Mock.
• Take Me Out to the Ballpark: An Illustrated Tour of Baseball Parks Past and Present by Josh Leventhal and Jessica Macmurray.
• The Ballpark Book: A Journey Through the Fields of Baseball Magic (Revised Edition) by Ron Smith and Kevin Belford.
• Ballparks: A Panoramic History by Marc Sandalow and Jim Sutton.
• Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money into Private Profit (2nd Edition) by Joanna Cagan and Neil deMause.
• Public Dollars, Private Stadiums: The Battle over Building Sports Stadiums by Kevin J. Delaney and Rick Eckstein.
• Sports, Jobs, and Taxes: The Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Stadiums by Roger G. Noll and Andrew Zimbalist.