Coors Field
Denver, CO
Review by Mike
It must have been kind of bittersweet for Rockies management when Coors Field was completed and the Rockies took residence in 1995. For two years they packed people into the 70,000+ seat Mile High Stadium... paying people. The Rockies shattered attendance records, setting marks that will likely never be broken. When Coors opened they had a shiny new ballpark, but now they had to turn away 25,000 people a night. Oh well, I'm sure luxury boxes and naming rights make up for the revenue loss.
There are lots of little touches that make the park unique, such as “The Rockpile”, a large bleacher section in center field that features very affordable seating only available on game day, making Rockies games accessible and affordable for everyone. Then there is the purple row of seats in the upper deck that marks the exact point of 5,280 feet elevation (one mile), highlighting the team’s place in the Mile High City.
The stadium is highly walkable, with great views from everywhere on the lower concourse. Good food choices abound and some of them are actually reasonably priced. The kettle corn and the Monster Nachos are especially good values. The ushers are pretty strict about not letting you down into the lower bowl without a ticket, but they are polite about it.
1997
16
1996
18
I have since moved to Colorado and Coors is my local MLB park. Since 1996 the city has spread considerably. The stadium is now surrounded by swanky condos and trendy nightlife. This is also the source of my only complaint. The right field portion of the upper deck has been rebuilt as “The Rooftop”, which is a warren of bars and nightclubs that afford almost no view of the game. What made it worse is that there are still seats hanging off the front of this party deck and I had to push my way through drunken, noisy 20-something’s who didn’t care about the game at all in order to get to and from my seat.
If you stay away from The Rooftop, you will find Coors to be a lovely place to see a game; friendly, comfortable, lively and entirely agreeable. I could have done a lot worse for a new home ballpark after transplanting from New York.
On my first visit to Coors in 1996, the game I saw was played the day after Hideo Nomo pitched his no-hitter against the Rockies. The worst part is that I had attended a Colorado Avalanche pre-season game on that night and, upon leaving McNichols Arena, considered heading towards the lights of Coors to catch the end of the game (not knowing what was going on), but decided to head back to the hotel instead. Then I turn on Sportscenter the next morning...
Gary says...
"I visited Coors Field in 1997 and truly enjoyed the experience. I parked in a downtown lot and walked to the park with the throngs of other Rockies fans excited to see their young team in this 2-year old stadium. Our seats were high above the first base line and while almost a mile from the field, the view of the mountains beyond the left field fence was stunning. I especially liked the very cool Rockies logo, complete with Pike's Peak, atop the scoreboard, nestled among the real Rockies in the distance."
This photo is not Coors Field related, but it is Rockie Relevant. I was at Shea Stadium for opening day in 1993 and snapped this picture of the first pitch in Colorado Rockies history. The Mets Dwight Gooden delivers to the Rockies Eric Young.
Nolan Arenado hitting his 3rd home run of the game on July 19, 2017, an 18-4 rout of the San Diego Padres. He finished the day with 5 hits, 4 runs scored and 7 RBI.
Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets hitting a solo home run in the 7th inning of an 11-10 Rockies win on May 28, 2023.
Where They Played Before
Mile High Stadium
The home plate of Mile High Stadium, where the Rockies played their first two seasons and the AAA Denver Bears before that, is marked in the parking lot of the Denver Broncos current stadium.