Petco Park
Petco Park is another major baseball stadium that is located in Downtown San Diego, California. The park first broke ground on May 3, 2000, and it opened for the local public on April 8, 2004. Petco Park serves as the home ballpark to the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball. It also hosts a wide variety of events such as soccer, concerts, rugby sevens, and golf.
The Petco Park was founded as a replacement for Qualcomm Stadium. The construction of the Petco Park took place under the supervision of San Diego Ballpark Builders. It was a major partnership among ROEL Construction, Clark Construction, and Douglas E. Barnhart, Inc. The total construction cost of the project was $450 million.
Petco Park is currently under the ownership of San Diego (70%) and the City of San Diego Padres (30%). It is operated by Padres LP. The current seating capacity of the ballpark is 40,209. It consists of 58 luxury suites and a total of 5,000 club seats. The naming rights of the stadium are under a San Diego-based pet supplies retailer named Petco. The naming deal was signed in 2021 between Petco and the Padres.
The architecture of the Petco Park building is done by Populous (then HOK Sport). Its eschewing "retro"-style red brick and green seats are what differentiates the ballpark from several other Major League ballparks of that same era.
The very first baseball game played at the stadium was hosted by San Diego State University. It was part of a four-team NCAA invitational tournament and took place on March 11, 2004. Petco Park hosted many notable sports and entertainment events.
It was the new host of the rugby union sevens event, USA Sevens (2007). The ballpark also served as a host to the 2015 Monster Jam and AMA Supercross Championship. The stadium hosted its first college basketball game on December 7, 2015. It was played between the San Diego State Aztecs and the San Diego Toreros.
Petco Park has been a partner of Callaway Golf Company since 2015. In the first week of each November, the partnership opens a par-3 nine-hole golf course in the ballpark. In terms of football, the first Holiday Bowl took place at the stadium on December 28, 2021. Not only this but Petco Park is considered to be the ideal future site to host NHL Winter Classic and AHL Outdoor Classic.
Petco Park took over all the arrangements of the American Idol (season 11) auditions. The show took place on July 8, 2011. Also, in the same year, the shooting of the "Chairman's Challenge" by the Food Network took place at the ballpark.