Guaranteed Rate Field


Guaranteed Rate Field is a baseball park located in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. The ballpark serves as the home ballpark for Major League Baseball's Chicago White Sox. The facility is owned by the state of Illinois through the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, and is operated by the White Sox. The park opened for the 1991 season, after the White Sox had spent 81 years at the original Comiskey Park. It also opened with the name Comiskey Park but was renamed U.S. Cellular Field in 2003 after U.S. Cellular purchased the naming rights at $68 million over 20 years. The current name was announced on October 31, 2016, after Guaranteed Rate, a private residential mortgage company located in Chicago, purchased the naming rights to the ballpark in a 13-year deal.
The stadium is situated just to the west of the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago's Armour Square neighborhood, adjacent to the more famous neighborhood of Bridgeport. It was built directly across 35th Street from old Comiskey Park, which was demolished to make room for a parking lot that serves the venue. Old Comiskey's home plate location is represented by a marble plaque on the sidewalk next to Guaranteed Rate Field and the foul lines are painted in the parking lot. Also, the spectator ramp across 35th Street is designed in such a way that it echoes the contour of the old first-base grandstand.
The park was completed at a cost of US$137 million. The current public address announcer is Gene Honda, who also serves as the PA announcer for the Chicago Blackhawks, NCAA Final Four, and University of Illinois Football.

History

The stadium was the first new major sporting facility built in Chicago since Chicago Stadium in 1929. It was also the last one built before the wave of new "retro-classic" ballparks in the 1990s and 2000s. A few design features from old Comiskey Park were retained. The front facade of the park features arched windows. The "exploding scoreboard" pays homage to the original, installed by Bill Veeck at the old park in 1960. The original field dimensions and seating configuration were very similar to those of Royals Stadium in Kansas City—which had been the last baseball-only park built in the majors, in 1973.
As originally built, the park was criticized by many fans because of the height of the upper deck. The original architect, HOK Sport, wanted to eliminate the overhang problems present in many stadiums built since the 1970s. With this in mind, the upper deck was set back over the lower deck, and the stands rose fairly gradually. While it gave nearly every seat in the upper level an unobstructed view of the field, it also created one of the highest upper decks in baseball. The first row of seats in the upper deck at the new stadium is as far from the field as the highest row of seats in the upper deck at the old stadium. Due to the field being practically at street level, the original upper deck made the park look like a cookie-cutter stadium from the outside. Fans sitting in this area didn't get much chance for relief, as it is one of the few parks in Major League Baseball that do not allow fans sitting in the upper deck to venture anywhere else in the park, e.g. lower deck concourse.
In response to fan complaints, the stadium has undergone numerous renovations since the 2001 season in order to retrofit the facility to current architectural trends. These changes have included building a multi-tiered concourse beyond center field, adjusting the fences to make the outfield less symmetrical and, most significantly, the removal of 6,600 seats at the top of the upper deck.
The uppermost story of the park now has a white and black screen behind the top row of seats and is topped by a flat canopy roof supported by black steel truss supports that obstruct the view of a few seats. The original blue seats were also replaced by forest green seats. The new green and black color scheme, upper level screen set back from the outer wall and canopy roof are reminiscent of the old Comiskey Park, as well as other classic baseball stadiums. The White Sox have also added murals to the interior concourses, a prominent feature of the old stadium.
The stadium houses 103 luxury suites located on two levels, as well as 1,822 "club seats" on 300-level mezzanine between the lower deck and upper deck. The club seats receive in-seat wait-staff and benefit from an enclosed concourse with multiple television viewing areas and bar-style concessions. The stadium has 400 wheelchair-accessible seats, 38 public restrooms, 12 escalators and 15 elevators. The new suites were one example of why the old Comiskey Park was demolished, as suites generate more revenue.

Attractions and features

1996–99 seasons

In 2001, extensive renovations were started by HKS Sports & Entertainment Group to make the park more fan-friendly:

Phase I (2001 season)

Renovations added not part of the original plan.

2008 season

2010–present seasons

2010 season
2011 season
2012 season
2014 season
2016 season
2018 season
2019 season
There are 12 retired numbers on the facade of the 1st and 3rd base sides of the 300 level.
on Opening Day 2014

Ballpark firsts

Opening Day (April 18, 1991)

Batting

Pitching

Other firsts

Transportation to the stadium

1990s

Notes: 1994 season incomplete due to Players Strike. Only 113 games played.
Only 144 games played in 1995.
Only 161 games played in 1997, 1999 & 2019.
163 games played in 2008 due to AL Central division tie-breaker game.

Non-baseball events

Concerts

Football

In film and other media

Guaranteed Rate Field has appeared in films such as Rookie of the Year, Major League II, Little Big League, My Best Friend's Wedding, and The Ladies Man. In Rookie of the Year the stadium played the role of Dodger Stadium and in Little Big League the stadium played the role of all opposing ballparks except for Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. Commercials for the PGA Tour, Nike, Reebok and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America have been filmed at the park.