Commissioner Bud Selig prepares to throw out the first pitch at PETCO Park. (Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO -- Commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday night that the opening of new $450 million PETCO Park saved Major League Baseball in San Diego.
"The fact is that without it, the Padres just couldn't generate enough revenue to stay in business," Selig said during the third inning of Thursday night's game between the Giants and the Padres, the first regular-season contest ever in the new ballpark.
"It did save baseball because the Padres couldn't continue to operate in [Qualcomm] Stadium," he added. "It not only saved baseball for now, but at least for two generations to come."
In 1994, the strike-interrupted season before John Moores purchased the last-place team, the Padres drew 953,857. Moores made it a coda of his new ownership to build the new ballpark. It took him nearly a decade of playing in multipurpose Qualcomm Stadium where the club amassed more than $100 million in losses.
News
