Por Dave Fidlin

Construction underway on several small projects to enhance spectator experience this offseason

The San Diego Padres’ season opener is still three months away, but the baseball franchise’s home venue, Petco Park, is abuzz with activity in the new year.

In early December, club owners announced a host of changes that will greet visitors of the ballpark when the Padres take on the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series starting April 4. Many of the changes are designed to mimic San Diego’s unique characteristics.

Petco Park is owned jointly by the city of San Diego and an organization known as Padres LP, which handles the day-to-day operations of the ballpark. Though the stadium is just a dozen years old, its still-youthful age hasn’t stopped decision-makers from making upgrades in recent years.

“The facility upgrades are part of the ownership group’s commitment to make [Petco Park] one of the best sporting venues in the country,” said Wayne Partello, the Padres’ senior vice president and chief marketing officer in an interview with Downtown News. “We want to look at ways we can best use every piece of square footage.”

The stadium’s owners are in the midst of a multi-year spruce-up of the facility. The tweaks and touch-ups began several years ago.

When the Padres wrapped up their 2013 season in early October of that year, the ownership group began an overhaul of the ballpark’s audio system, and in January of 2014 began construction on a new high-definition video board, five new LED ribbons around the seating area.

Also a year ago, a number of additional changes were added to the roster of improvements, including an emphasis on new gathering spaces. One such amenity is The Landing, a private area in front of the left field grandstand designed to accommodate up to 300 persons.

This offseason, Partello said the ballpark’s owners have turned their attention toward accents he said epitomize the San Diego lifestyle. Many of the upcoming changes are beach-themed.

Case in point: a new two-level social space, dubbed Sun Diego and located in right-center field — formerly called the Beachers — is being modeled after Southern California’s piers and will feature pilings and decking constructed from environmentally-friendly recycled composite wood.

“This project will transform the space … while preserving the view from the grass seating area,” said Mike Dee, Padres president and CEO, in a statement. “We will create an improved and unique experience for fans in what has previously been an underutilized area.”

Once the revamp of the Padres’ newest social space is complete, it will hold a capacity of up to 600 spectators.

A smaller-scale set of changes also are on deck in some other areas of the ballpark this year, including a refresh of the Lexus Home Plate Club, which will feature 222 new seats, LED lighting throughout the park, a new floor surface application, and new paint, guardrails and handrails.

Additionally, new backstop netting is being installed, with a goal, Partello said, of making greater strides toward safeguarding spectators while minimizing the appearance of the shielding device.

While he admitted there is great enthusiasm for the changes within the walls of the Padres’ management offices at the Park, Partello said the touch-ups are just a natural part of taking visitors’ comments into account; the added social space has long been a top wish-list item.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to evolve the ballpark,” he said. “We have funds in our budget each year to take fans’ experiences into account.”

Though most of the offseason chatter concerning Petco Park is about the facilities upgrades, there will be other changes represented on the backs of the players themselves.

Throughout the 2016 season, all Padres players will pay homage to military personnel by wearing camouflage-colored jerseys that are modeled after U.S. Navy uniforms. The naval-themed jerseys will be worn during all home games on Sundays.

In addition, the team will wear jerseys that trumpet the fact that Petco Park is the host site of this year’s All-Star Game. During all home games — except Fridays and Sundays — players will wear white jerseys; however on Fridays, the players will wear the brown and yellow throwback color scheme in honor of the All Star game.

While Petco Park has hosted non-baseball related events since its opening in 2004, venue management has rolled out a growing number of special events in recent years.

Throughout 2015, during both in-season and offseason, the park held several blockbuster concerts, including The Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift. The site was also recent host to the Links golf event and the Bill Walton Basketball Festival. The year was then capped off with Petco Park’s annual Holiday Wonderland event.

Shana Wilson, Padres director of communications, said that a number of special events will fill up Petco Park’s calendar in 2016, though planning is just getting underway.

“We’re too far out to have anything final for next offseason,” she said, adding that more announcements will come in the months ahead.

Some non-baseball events that have already been scheduled for the remainder of this off-season include Monster Energy Supercross on Jan. 16 and Feb. 13, and Monster Jam on Jan. 23 and Feb. 6.

Petco Park’s hosting of the 2016 mid-summer Major League Baseball All-Star Game is scheduled for July 12.

For more information about the San Diego Padres, visit padres.com. Petco Park also has a website, petcoparkevents.com.

—Dave Fidlin es un periodista independiente con una afinidad especial por San Diego y su gente. Contáctelo en [email protected]