U.S. Cellular Field

   

U.S. Cellular Field
formerly New Comiskey Park
SBC Park
Location Chicago, Illinois
Opened April 18, 1991
Capacity 44,321 (1991)
45,936 (2001)
Owned By Illinois Sports Facilities Authority
Architect:

HOK Sport

Dimensions:

Left
Left-Center
Center
Right-Center
Right



347 ft. (1991), 330 ft. (2001)
375 ft. (1991), 377 ft. (2001)
400 ft.
347 ft. (1991), 372 ft. (2001)
347 ft. (1991), 335 ft. (2001)

U.S. Cellular Field (formerly New Comiskey Park) is a Major League Baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League. The park opened for the 1991 season, after the White Sox had spent 81 years at Comiskey Park. The new park, completed at a cost of $167 million, also opened with the Comiskey Park name, but became U.S. Cellular Field in 2003 after U.S. Cellular bought the naming rights at $68 million over 20 years. The move was widely derided by Chicagoans, and most White Sox fans still refer to the park as Comiskey.

The stadium is in the Armour Square neighborhood of the city, at 35th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway, just east of the Bridgeport neighborhood. It was built in the parking lot of old Comiskey Park, which was torn down and became a parking lot for the current field. Few design features were retained except for the "exploding scoreboard", which lights up in color when a White Sox player hits a home run. The lowest row of seats in the upper deck at the new stadium is actually farther from the field than the highest row of seats in the upper deck at the old stadium.

The stadium was the last built before the recent wave of new 'retro' stadiums. The stadium has undergone numerous renovations since its opening in order to retrofit it to the current architectural trends. This has included building a multi-tiered concourse beyond center field, adjusting the field of play to create asymmetrical fences and the removal of the most distant seats at the top of the upper deck, topped by a roof supported by poles that obstruct the view of a few seats.

The stadium contains 84 luxury suites located on two levels, as well as thousands of club seats on a mezzanine between the lower deck and upper deck.

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