How you feel about retractable roof stadiums?

[steveox]

I like them.It saves rainouts and hot n cold weather plus you can still grow grass.

[tonypug]

There are certain areas of the country where it is necessary to have the option of a roof. It is a much better option to have a retractable roof stadium, then one with a fixed roof.

[efin98]

"Neccessary evil". As long as they look more like a stadium than a dome they are OK.

[Joltin' Joe]

I think every stadium should have one like Safeco!

[Crosley Fielder]

The retractable roofs come in handy, no doubt about that. It's just irritating looking up at them as they sit waiting for too much heat or bad weather. Minute Maid has one. The park itself is downright cozy and has the spirit of the old parks but the roof, when not used, is kinda ugly.

[sschirmer]

I guess I'm alright with them, save for two exceptions: A. Don't have the roof closed when it's beautiful outside. The game was meant to be played outside, so let's keep it open whenever possible. B. Don't stick the tax payers with the bill. I'd rather have a rainout or two than have my damn property taxes jacked up, because someone deemed it necessary to add a $120 million roof to a stadium design that already costs $300 million.

[KCFAN11]

I guess they are ok! But personally i would like to go to a ballpark and sit outside even if it is raining sometimes it makes the game more fun. If the team is somewhere were there is alot of rain or it gets to hott or cold i guess it would be ok. But in Kansas City it is not needed.

[ichiro262]

I think every stadium should have one like Safeco!

It's definately a no-brainer for Seattle.

[Indylavi]

Depends on the sport and location. For instance, last Sunday's Seattle Seahawks game it was raining and they never closed the roof. For baseball, I perfer an outdoor park myself. But if it rains a lot or extremely hot I can understand why. But they build them in places like Milwaukee which I can't understand.

[runningshoes]

Skydome :laugh

[sschirmer]

It's definately a no-brainer for Seattle.

Actually, the rainy season there is in the Winter.

[Bluesteve32]

I think every stadium should have one like Safeco!

Why?

When your climate has 300 days of sunshine and averages 15" of rain a year, a retractable roof is not necessary.

[jrh31584]

Depends on the sport and location. For instance, last Sunday's Seattle Seahawks game it was raining and they never closed the roof. For baseball, I perfer an outdoor park myself. But if it rains a lot or extremely hot I can understand why. But they build them in places like Milwaukee which I can't understand.

I don't think the Seahawks' stadium has a roof to close. I think they just have one to cover most of the seats, which is not retractable.

[mobile eggroll]

no need in cali... gotta love the weather here. one rainout all year at angels stadium albeit at a bad time ...

[sschirmer]

Why?

When your climate has 300 days of sunshine and averages 15" of rain a year, a retractable roof is not necessary.


Right on!:dance

[steveox]

Bud Selig did the right thing not allowing astros close the roof if its not raining.Tempertures are fine in houston not real cold so no need to close the roof.Retractable roof stadiums are not for using like home field advantage.Its for preventing rain delays and when its too cold to play.I think next year umps should be the ones who decides when the roof gets open or closed not the home team.

[sschirmer]

Bud Selig did the right thing not allowing astros close the roof if its not raining.Tempertures are fine in houston not real cold so no need to close the roof.Retractable roof stadiums are not for using like home field advantage.Its for preventing rain delays and when its too cold to play.I think next year umps should be the ones who decides when the roof gets open or closed not the home team.

Ah, I finally agree with you on something!:D

[tonypug]

Bud Selig did the right thing not allowing astros close the roof if its not raining.Tempertures are fine in houston not real cold so no need to close the roof.Retractable roof stadiums are not for using like home field advantage.Its for preventing rain delays and when its too cold to play.I think next year umps should be the ones who decides when the roof gets open or closed not the home team.
I also agree with you on this. Retractable roofs should be used in order to play a game on a day when you otherwise couldn't. Other then extreme weather conditions, the roof should be open.

[redoctober]

I agree with you guys in that the retractable roof's only use is to reduce the number of rain delays to nill. It should not be used as a home field advantage like the Houston Astros did towards the end of the regular season and this postseason. I'm fine with having a retractable roof on top of a stadium in a fairly wet climate. However, it's the retractable roofs in dry climates that don't make any sense.

On a side note: Baseball needs to abolish permanent dome stadiums. Baseball has always been an outdoor sport, leave it that way!

[steveox]

Look at Arizona dimondbacks home bank one ballpark.Its closed cause its so godly hot in the summer you couldnt play in 110+ temps.But during playoff time it gets like 85-90 day and 80-85 at night so you can play in those conditions with roof open. In Florida domes should be closed day & night cause of the humidity. But roof should be open at night in florida in october cause its not as humid like in august and september.

[Indylavi]

I don't think the Seahawks' stadium has a roof to close. I think they just have one to cover most of the seats, which is not retractable.

Ah I stand corrected. However, I still feel that the roof should only be shut if weather prevents the game from being played or is so hot to make it unbearable.

[steveox]

Like US Cellarfield needs one cause its way too cold to play baseball in april in chicago. And i wish baltimore would get one too.

[ElCaminoSS]

ya I like them

[Big_Mac]

i like them in certian locations where it rains alot. domes are so ugly i hate them.

i disagree with the selig thing you guys brought up. yes, it wasnt raining and yes, i would have hated to see that roof go up but it's houston's ballpark, they should be able to do what they want.

[grayghost]

I've been to 3 of them ..... in Milwaukee, Toronto and Houston. I didn't care for any of them. I absolutely detest indoor baseball. And when they have their roofs open the structure simply dwarfs the field.

I think the weather elements should be a part of the game just as they were for the first 120 years it was played. I don't think the game should be changed because weather conditions somewhere are not conducive to it.

[sschirmer]

Like US Cellarfield needs one cause its way too cold to play baseball in april in chicago. And i wish baltimore would get one too.

I knew it couldn't last.

[tonypug]

I knew it couldn't last.
It's been a long time since I saw" I'm a ramblin' wreck from Georgia Tech and a helluva engineer."

[Williamsburg2599]

As long as there super super quiet, are fast, dont distract, and above all do something cool like fold out or flip out like one of those cool calculators that open by themselves, then there ok.lol.

[johnny]

Of course, prior to that I was sweating it out inside the Kingdome which had a disconcerting habit of letting rooftiles drop a couple a hundred feet on to the floor.
Seriously, the Safeco roof is a cool thing and still allows one to feel outdoors. Plus it is nice to watch the damn thing slide across.

[BrewKeggr]

But they build them in places like Milwaukee which I can't understand.
TWO YEARS AGO WE HAD A SNOWSTORM ON OPENING DAY 5 INCHES. IT WAS 69 DEGREES AND DRY FOR THE GAME:lookitup

MILWAUKEE FRANK

[mrakbaseball]

Of course, prior to that I was sweating it out inside the Kingdome which had a disconcerting habit of letting rooftiles drop a couple a hundred feet on to the floor.
Seriously, the Safeco roof is a cool thing and still allows one to feel outdoors. Plus it is nice to watch the damn thing slide across.


The tiles fell once in 1994. That is not a habit. The Kingdome wasn't maintained properly. The blueprints called for a 5 inch pour of concrete for the roof.. A construction accident in 1975 revealed it was less than half of it. The thinner roof led to leaking, condensation buildup and the eventual tile collapse.

[Philtration]

Hate em.
Baseball was meant to be played outdoors and if it rains then so be it. How many games get rained out in a year anyway?
Yes it gets cold in April here in Chicago and it can be in the 90s and humid in the summer but it has worked for over 100 years.
I am not old fashioned or stubborn but why mess with a good thing for the small payoff that it offers?

Other than Arizona is there any team that really has to have any kind of roof over their stadium?

[PeteU]

And i wish baltimore would get one too.

Please, please, please tell me you're kidding.

That M&T Bank Stadium has FieldTurf instead of natural grass, and that recent skyscrapers have obstructed the view of the Bromo Seltzer Tower, annoys me enough.

The concept that Oriole Park at Camden Yards would be covered with some monstrosity of a roof would just be a crime against humanity.

[marlins739]

The one in Seattle came in handy when I was there two summers ago. I like what they do in Arizona, cool the stadium off before the game, but open it at game time. It was cool and pleasant in the seating areas after the 113 degree walk to the ballpark. Miller Park could have gotten away without having one, but that roof design is so cool it's hard to not like the place.

Houston has the same problem as Florida, humidity that makes it unpleasant to be outside even on a night with mild temperatures on paper. An unfortunate truth about the South Florida climate is that almost every afternoon in the summer, like clockwork, the sky gets dark, it pours harder than anyone from the north can imagine, and then stops. Rain here doesn't usually last long, but it comes down hard when it does. The Marlins have very few rainouts, but rain delays happen all the time and they keep people away. So I support a roof here to keep the rain delays away, let people know that if they drive down there, a game will be played, and make it bearable to go to a 1:00 game on Sunday, because when it's not raining, it sure is blazing hot and sticky out there

[Astros4Life]

I agree that baseball should be played outdoors...it used to be played outdoors in houston (buffs stadium) when we were a minor league town...one problem with colt stadium was it had no overhang for cover...minute maid has brought back outdoor baseball to houston to an extent...but even with the roof closed, the park still feels cozy and inviting, thats just my opinion

[FMTwinsFan]

I don't care for them, went to a game at Milwaukee and it wasn't like real outdoor baseball. It was much better then the Metrodome but even with the roof open it still seemed like you were closed in. For those 10-15 poor weather days I bet that roof is wonderful but I think it takes away from the whole atmosphere during the decent to great days.

[Hank 755]

100 years ago we didn't have the technology to have retractable roofs, so when you say the baseball was meant to be played outdoors I have a hard time believing it since they didn't have structures big enough to hold a baseball field indoors when it was invented. However once something is done and set in stone people hate change. Would you be saying baseball should be played outdoors if it was indoors the first 100 years. What if basketball was played outdoors first, would you be saying the same thing then?

WISCONSIN WEATHER!!! Miller Park IS needed. I swear there is a magic line between Wisconsin and the rest of the world that we get such unpredictable weather. It's freezing in the winter and freaking hot and humid in the summer, fall is the best time of year except for those damn asian beetles that plague your house like locusts in a farm field.

[Twins91871977]

I like them.It saves rainouts and hot n cold weather plus you can still grow grass.
Meh, the only one I like is SafeCo, all the other ones look like airplane hangars. I'm so glad the Twins ditched the roof with their new one.

[DiggerODell]

Meh, the only one I like is SafeCo, all the other ones look like airplane hangars. I'm so glad the Twins ditched the roof with their new one.

I don't much care what they look like . . . if it's "cool" . . . it's cool. My only visit to a retract. was the BOB (looks just like an airplane hangar by the way . . .ha!) in '98. It was 108 that late afternoon and I had always disliked domes or retracts up till then. I quickly become a convert.

I think as technology progresses, you will see stadiums which have retracts that fold or merely go down in the ground, so as to keep the the stadium on nice days looking as if it's an "old school" outdoor park. (You listening Boston? . . . j/k)

[Philtration]

100 years ago we didn't have the technology to have retractable roofs, so when you say the baseball was meant to be played outdoors I have a hard time believing it since they didn't have structures big enough to hold a baseball field indoors when it was invented. However once something is done and set in stone people hate change. Would you be saying baseball should be played outdoors if it was indoors the first 100 years. What if basketball was played outdoors first, would you be saying the same thing then?

WISCONSIN WEATHER!!! Miller Park IS needed. I swear there is a magic line between Wisconsin and the rest of the world that we get such unpredictable weather. It's freezing in the winter and freaking hot and humid in the summer, fall is the best time of year except for those damn asian beetles that plague your house like locusts in a farm field.

They did not have the technology to use Astroturf 100 years ago either and how did that abomination work out? Do you want aluminum bats as well? How about electronic sensors in the players shoes, gloves and in the bases to determine who is safe and who is out? A computer to call the balls and strikes? Hey, the technology exists so why not turn it into a video game right?

If some people cannot deal with a cool evening or a hot summer day at the ballpark then maybe they should stay at home and watch it on TV where everything is controlled like a hermetically sealed bubble.

By the way... if they could build a retractable roof over the Roman Coliseum 2000 years ago then I am pretty sure that they could have done the same thing in 1930s America if they had wanted to.

[PeteU]

I'm not wild about retractable roofs in general. They are better than fixed roofs, but that's about it. Even Safeco, far and away the best of the retractable roof ballparks, is diminished by its roof, not improved. I can't think of any possible example where we can say a retractable roof ballpark will be the best ballpark in baseball. A nice outdoor ballpark will beat a nice retractable roof ballpark any day.

That being said, they are something of a necessary evil in places. Seattle is a no-brainer. And the rest there is some logic behind it. And as much as I personally don't mind the heat and humidity in Florida, I do know that there are some people who do, so while I'd rather personally see an open-air ballpark for the Marlins, I can understand why they are building a retractable roof park. It just stinks that the Marlins aren't going to be able to lay claim to having the absolute best ballpark in baseball due to the roof. That won't keep them from building a good ballpark a la Safeco, however.

[Astros]

By the way... if they could build a retractable roof over the Roman Coliseum 2000 years ago then I am pretty sure that they could have done the same thing in 1930s America if they had wanted to.

The Roman Collosseum did have a form of retractable roof called a velarium. It had to be pulled over to cover the seating area. There was a hole left in the center of the velarium, similar to the way Texas Stadium is.

In Houston, the retractable roof works well. Contrary to the belief of some who haven't been to a ball game at Minute Maid Park, the roof slides completely off the stadium along with an entire glass wall. It is truly an open air stadium when the roof is open.

[Seattle1]

Depends on the sport and location. For instance, last Sunday's Seattle Seahawks game it was raining and they never closed the roof. For baseball, I perfer an outdoor park myself. But if it rains a lot or extremely hot I can understand why.

There is no roof for the Seahawks' Qwest Field. Safeco, next door to the south, has a retractable roof.

Btw, a football field should never have a roof. Football can and should be played in any kind of weather there is. (Don't even get me started on artificial turf!)

;)

[Seattle1]

Seriously, the Safeco roof is a cool thing and still allows one to feel outdoors.

That is a good way to sum it up.

:twocents:

[Chevy114]

I like it when you live in an enviroment with a lot of moscitos or it snows/rains in the colder months. I like miller park and safeco is great, the sky dome isn't that bad either. Sometimes you lose that ballpark feel on the outisde, but sun and baseball are better than the trop if you as me!

[Power Wally]

They did not have the technology to use Astroturf 100 years ago either and how did that abomination work out? Do you want aluminum bats as well? How about electronic sensors in the players shoes, gloves and in the bases to determine who is safe and who is out? A computer to call the balls and strikes? Hey, the technology exists so why not turn it into a video game right?

Aluminum bats and Astroturf should not be used when natural materials are adequate. The "electronic score keeping" devices you mention sound good to me, though. Anything to get rid of the corrupt-a$$ umps.

[badjuggler]

The roof in Milwaukee is terrible. Even when open it feels constricting. I popped in there on my way back home in Minneapolis from Chicago to catch a Twins game two years ago. They had the damned roof closed on a sunny 60 degree day in April. I was livid. After 15 years here with the godforsaken Metrodome I was craving some outdoor baseball.

I am so excited about our new park in progress. I work a block away from it and it is fun to watch the progress.

[mrakbaseball]

The roof in Milwaukee is terrible.
There's a reason no other ballpark has a fan-shaped roof.