The Texas Rangers will open the 2020 Major League Baseball season at home Friday night with their first game at $1.2 billion Globe Life Field.
The Rangers host the Colorado Rockies at 7:05 p.m.
Fans will not be able to attend the game. Instead, they were able to buy cardboard cut-outs called, "DoppelRangers," to put in seats. Each DoppelRanger cost $50 with proceeds benefiting the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation.
"It will not be a typical opening night celebration," says Rangers public address announcer Chuck Morgan. "Fans not being in the ballpark, that is a strange feeling. It doesn't feel right. It's not the way it's supposed to be. I've done more than 3,000 games, and this will be the first time I've ever done a real game with no fans in the park."
"Michael was also able to find the old hot dog vendor who used to yell, 'hooot doogg,' and he's dropped that in,"Morgan says. "He's also isolated Zonk playing the drums, so in addition to the regular noise you might hear during a ballgame, we do have a few things that are exclusive to a Ranger game."
Voters in Arlington passed $500 million in bonds in 2016 to help pay for the stadium. The proposition extended a half cent sales tax originally passed to help pay for AT&T Stadium. The City of Arlington refinanced that debt to help pay for Globe Life Field.