Features

Opening date set for Mexico’s most expensive baseball stadium

Mexican Baseball League (LMB) club Diablos Rojos has confirmed that its new stadium, the most expensive to be developed in the country, will open on March 23.

Work on the 20,000-seat Alfredo Harp Helú ballpark commenced in 2016 and it will open its doors with two games between the development teams of Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise the San Diego Padres and the Diablos. Mexico’s President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will throw the opening pitch.

Located in Mexico City’s Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixhuca, the ballpark has been developed at a reported cost of MXN 3.4bn (£133.8m/€156m/$176.3m). It will feature two giant video screens, luxury box seating behind home plate and the latest synthetic turf pitch.

The Diablos currently play at the 5,200-seat Estadio Fray Nano, which first opened in 2014. Its new home will stage its first competitive game on April 5, when the Diablos take on Los Tigres de Quintana Roo.

The Alfredo Harp Helú is one of a number of ballpark developments in Mexico over recent years, but is the most ambitious project to date.

Image: Diablos Rojos