Citizens Bank Park

Citizens Bank Park is a baseball park located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, within the city's South Philadelphia Sports Complex. It is the home of the Philadelphia Phillies, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. It opened April 3, 2004, and hosted its first regular-season baseball game on April 12 of the same year, with the Phillies losing to the Cincinnati Reds, 4–1.
The ballpark was built to replace the 33-year-old, now-demolished Veterans Stadium, a football/baseball multipurpose facility, and features a natural grass-and-dirt playing field and a number of Philadelphia-style food stands that serve cheesesteak sandwiches, hoagies, Tastykakes, soft pretzels, Yards and Yuengling beer, and many other regional specialties. The ballpark lies on the northeast corner of the Sports Complex, which includes Lincoln Financial Field, the Wells Fargo Center, and Xfinity Live!, the Center's adjacent theme park and food court. The stadium seats 42,792.
History.
Planning.
In 1999, the Phillies and the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL joined their western Pennsylvania counterparts, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Pittsburgh Steelers, in making requests to replace both Veterans Stadium and Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh with separate baseball and football stadiums. Pressure for new Philadelphia stadiums increased after a railing collapsed at The Vet during the 1998 Army–Navy Game, injuring eight cadets. The Pirates threatened to leave Pittsburgh in 1997, helping to convince the state legislature to approve funding for the four proposed stadiums. With their architectural plans already in place, Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh approved the pacts swiftly, but debate in Philadelphia's city leadership continued even as Pittsburgh opened its stadiums, (PNC Park for the Pirates and Heinz Field for the Steelers), in 2001. The Eagles ultimately agreed to the site of a former food warehouse slightly southeast of Veterans Stadium. Lincoln Financial Field celebrated its grand opening in August 2003.
The Phillies originally sought to build a downtown ballpark similar to Baltimore's, Denver's, Cincinnati's, Cleveland's, Detroit's and San Francisco's. Various locations were proposed, including Broad and Spring Garden streets; Spring Garden and Delaware Avenue; and next to 30th Street Station on the site of the former main post office. The team and the city announced that the site would be at 13th and Vine streets in Chinatown, just north of Interstate 676, within walking distance of Center City. There was considerable support for a downtown ball park from business and labor and the city at large. But Chinatown residents protested, fearing a new ballpark would destroy their neighborhood. The City and team eventually settled on building at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex on the site of another abandoned food warehouse. In the years that followed, residents, fans, and owner Bill Giles expressed regret that the new ball park was not located in Center City. Regardless of location, however, the team set attendance records in 2010 (3,647,249 fans, averaging 45,028) with all home games sold out for the first time in the team's long history (81), extending a sellout streak dating back to July of 2009 to 123.
Chief architect of the new stadium was EwingCole's Stanley Cole. Unveiling of the new park's design and ground breaking ceremonies took place on June 28, 2001. Following the game that evening, the location of the left-field foul pole, from home plate, was unveiled at the outset of the team's annual Fourth of July fireworks display. On June 17, 2003, Citizens Bank agreed to a 25-year, US $95 million deal for the park's naming rights and advertising on billboards, telecasts, radio broadcasts, and publications. The ballpark was officially topped off on August 12, 2003, and opened in April 2004.
Modifications.
Shortly after the park opened in 2004, the bullpens were reassigned so the Phillies' pitchers used the lower pen and visitors used the upper pen. This was done to give Phillies' pitchers a better view of the game and to protect them from heckling by fans. However, the team forgot to rewire the bullpen phones after the bullpens were reassigned; so during the first game, the dugout coaches had to communicate with the bullpens by hand signals.
In its first years, Citizens Bank Park allowed 218 home runs in 2004 and 201 in 2005. More than half of those home runs were to left-field. Following the 2005 season, the left-field wall was moved back .
Even with these modifications, the park has a reputation as one of the most hitter-friendly parks in baseball. In 2009, it gave up 149 home runs, the most in the National League and second in the majors behind only the new Yankee Stadium, but has been neutral since, with a .997 park factor in 2011.
Features.
Ashburn Alley.
Behind center field is Ashburn Alley, named after Phillies Hall of Fame center fielder Richie Ashburn, who played for the team from 1948 to 1959 and was a Phillies broadcaster from 1963 until his death in 1997. It is seen by Phillies fans as a compromise between the Phillies and their fans, many of whom wanted Citizens Bank Park named in honor of Ashburn.
Ashburn Alley is named for the slightly-overgrown grass which bordered the third base line at Shibe Park where Ashburn was famous for laying down bunts that stayed fair. The new Ashburn Alley, located near Ashburn's defensive position, is a walkway featuring restaurants, games and memorabilia from Phillies history. Ashburn Alley also features a memorabilia shop and a large bronze statue of Ashburn directly behind center field, as well as the U.S. flag, the flags of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia, a POW/MIA flag and the flags from the Phillies' championships (below).
Features of the Alley are:
In 2004 and 2005, organist Paul Richardson performed from Ashburn Alley, as Citizens Bank Park was built without an organ booth.
Statues.
Besides the Richie Ashburn statue in Ashburn Alley, statues of three other famous Phillies — Robin Roberts (at the First Base Gate), Mike Schmidt (at the Third Base Gate) and Steve Carlton (at the Left Field Gate) — ring the outside of the facility. Each of the statues were made by local sculptor Zenos Frudakis and cast at Laran Bronze in nearby Chester. Other art found throughout the park includes tile mosaics, murals and terrazzo floors with outlined images of famous players in Phillies history.
In April 2011, the Phillies accepted a gift of a fan-underwritten bronze statue of legendary broadcaster Harry Kalas. Created by noted local sculptor Lawrence Nowlan and cast at Laran Bronze, it was placed behind Section 141, near the restaurant that bears Kalas' name, after a dedication held on August 16, 2011 prior to that night's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The statue was unveiled two days later than originally scheduled (the originally-scheduled date is on a plaque on the ground below the statue) because of a rained-out game between the Phillies and the Washington Nationals.
Green stadium.
The Philadelphia Phillies are the first Major League Baseball team to join the Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership Program which motivates organizations across the world to purchase green power in order to minimize environmental impact. The Phillies announced on April 30, 2008 that their home field, Citizens Bank Park, will be powered with 20 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green energy purchased in Green-e Energy Certified Renewable Certificates (RECs). The EPA stated that this purchase holds the record in professional sports for the largest purchase of 100% renewable energy.
The Phillies are among the top three purchasers of green power in Philadelphia, and the executive director of the Center for Resource Solutions, Arthur O'Donnell, wants "other clubs to take their lead." Aramark Corporation is the Phillies' food and beverage provider at Citizens Bank Park and they are taking major actions in improving the environmental impact of the Phillies' stadium. Glass, cardboard and plastics used during game day are recycled; frying oil is being recycled to produce biodiesel fuel, and biodegradable, recyclable, and compostable products, serviceware, and plastics have been introduced.
Non-baseball events.
Ice hockey.
On January 2, 2012, Citizens Bank Park hosted the fifth annual NHL Winter Classic between long time division rivals New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers before an SRO crowd of 46,967. The game, which was televised throughout the United States and Canada by NBC and CBC respectively, was won by the Rangers, 3–2. Two days earlier, on New Year's Eve, 45,667 attended an alumni game played between teams made up of former who had retired from the NHL between the 1970s and 2011 of which eight (four on each team) were also members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Flyers' starting goalie for the game, which was won by the Flyers alumni, 3–1, was Hall of Famer Bernie Parent. He made his first since his playing career ended prematurely due to an eye injury suffered during a game against the Rangers played at the neighboring (although since demolished) Spectrum in February 1979.
Four days after the 2012 NHL Winter Classic game, a third sell out crowd of 45,663 filled the Park on January 6 to watch the Flyers' AHL farm team, the Adirondack Phantoms, defeat the Hershey Bears, 4–3, in overtime. That crowd exceeded by a factor of more than two the previous largest gathering (21,673) to ever attend an AHL game since the league was established in 1936. With the normal 43,651 baseball seating capacity of the Park having been increased by more than 3,000 with the installation of built over the bullpen area in center field, the trio of outdoor hockey games drew a combined total of 138,296 over the week of Winter Classic events.
Concerts.
The first concert at the park was Jimmy Buffett & The Coral Reefer Band on August 25, 2005; they returned on June 14, 2008.
The Eagles, The Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban were scheduled to perform on June 14, 2010, but the show was cancelled.
Other performers who have played at the park include Billy Joel and Elton John in a duet concert, Bon Jovi and The Police.
Other stadium information.
Due to the City of Philadelphia's smoking ban, smoking is no longer allowed anywhere within the stadium as of the 2018 season.
Dan Baker, public address announcer for the Phillies since 1972, continues to introduce the players. During each player's first at-bat, Baker, in an excited voice, says, "Now batting for the Phillies, number (#), (position), (player's name)".
For example, a first at-bat introduction would have Baker say, "Now batting for the Phillies, number 11, shortstop Jimmy Rollins!" During subsequent at-bats, players are only announced by their position and name, for example, "Phillies first baseman, Ryan Howard!"
Baker only uses the city of the opposing team when he announces their players rather than the team nickname, for example, "Now batting for Atlanta, number ten, third baseman Chipper Jones", and makes the announcement in a more-subdued tone.
Video boards.
In 2004 and 2005, Citizens Bank Park installed Daktronics video and message displays in the park. One of the largest incandescent displays in Major League Baseball was installed in left field that was used as a scoreboard and for giving statistics. There are also out-of-town field-level displays installed in the park that measure approximately high by wide. During the 2010–2011 offseason, the Phillies replaced their incandescent scoreboard with a new HD scoreboard that cost $10 million. The new screen measures high and wide, which nearly triples the size of the old screen, and is the second largest HD screen in the National League, after the San Diego Padres' PETCO Park screen (61 ft. high and 124 ft. wide).
Accolades.
The food at CBP was named as Best Ballpark Food in a survey of Food Network viewers in the first annual Food Network Awards which first aired on April 22, 2007. On August 14, 2007, it was announced that Citizens Bank Park was voted #1 by PETA as America's most vegetarian-friendly ballpark, which was repeated in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2012.