Extra Innings: Colorado Rockies Sign $215M, 30-Year Lease at Coors Field

by John Nelson

DENVER — The Colorado Rockies baseball club has signed a 30-year lease worth $215 million to continue to play at Coors Field in Denver. The Major League Baseball (MLB) team’s existing 22-year lease at the 50,480-seat ballpark was set to expire today.

The Rockies signed the new lease deal with the owner of Coors Field, the Denver Metropolitan Major League Baseball Stadium District, a regional agency that comprises seven Denver-area counties.

“In addition to successfully meeting the objectives the Rockies and the Stadium District had from the beginning — keeping baseball in Colorado in a world-class facility at no cost to the taxpayers — we are proud that Coors Field will continue to be a vital part of a vibrant city, state and region,” says Dick Monfort, owner, chairman and CEO of the Colorado Rockies.

The lease features three separate five-year extension options and will expire in 2047, when the ballpark will be 53 years old. The team will pay $1 million in annual rent and $1.5 million in contributions to the capital repairs fund, which totals $75 million for the life of the lease.

The team will also lease the ballpark’s West Lot, a 291-space parking lot that is also owned by the stadium district, for 99 years with plans to pay the $125 million price tag in the first 30 years.

The 1.2 million-square-foot ballpark opened in 1995 and is now in its 23rd year of operation, making it the third-oldest ballpark in the National League.

The Colorado Rockies club, which is responsible for the day-to-day operations and maintenance of the facility, has invested an additional $81 million in capital repairs, replacement and improvements between 1995 and 2016.

Coors Field is situated on 76 acres at 2001 Blake St. and features 4,500 parking spaces. The venue attracts nearly 3 million visitors per year between the team’s 81 home games and more than 155 non-baseball and community events.

During the 2016 season when the team posted a 75-87 record, roughly 2.6 million people attended the Rockies’ home games, according to Rox Pile, a Fansided website. This put Coors Field in the top 15 MLB venues with the highest attendance in the regular season.

— John Nelson

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