Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres to play exhibition games in San Antonio - MLB News
The Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas will be hosting its first baseball games in March of 2013 when Texas Rangers will take on the San Diego Padres for a couple of exhibition matches at the end of Spring Training. The sports facility that can house up to
65,000 people will be transformed to suit the needs of baseball.
The event is being arranged by the group that owns the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks and Triple-A Round Rock Express, Ryan Sanders baseball. The Padres themselves have a farm team in San Antonio, the San Antonio Missions. The team has been affiliated with
the Padres since 2007 and players such as Chase Headley was once a part of it.
The organising group is quite excited by the prospect. They were also thankful to the two teams for agreeing to participate in the event.
"There's a lot of work that needs to be done before March," said Ryan Sanders CEO Reid Ryan, "but we've got a great team in place and have the right partners to get there. This obviously can't happen without the Rangers and Padres, but ultimately it was
Dave Elmore and the San Antonio Missions that made this a reality.”
Nolan Ryan, the president of the Texas Rangers was also looking forward to the opportunity of being a part of the gala. "We're excited about the opportunity to be playing in the first-ever baseball games in the Alamodome," Ryan said. "We appreciate the support
of everyone involved from the city, the Missions and the Padres as well."
The Alamodome, which was constructed in 1993, has been a multi-purpose sports facility. The facility that was built at a cost of $186 million. It is generally used as a football, basketball stadium as well as convention centre. Alamodome hosted the San Antonio
Spurs’ NBA games for nine years before they moved to the AT&T Centre after the 2001-2002 season. The arena has also been a host to six NFL pre-season games. The last of which was played back in 2001.
The San Diego Padres’ manager Bud Black was also upbeat about the games. "Playing against the Rangers in San Antonio in this unique venue will be a fantastic opportunity as we prepare for Opening Day," he said.
He also pointed out that a number of current Padres’ players had previously been in action in San Antonio as a part of the Missions’ team. Bud was looking forward to having the Missions’ fans cheering for them in the exhibition games.
The Rangers have previously played thrice in San Antonio though this will be their first time in the Alamodome. With the season opening on April 2, this should serve as a good warm up exercise for both the ball clubs.
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