Lots of changes at El Paso’s Downtown ballpark for season two

Opening Day for the El Paso Chihuahuas is just a week away.

Fans will find many changes at beautiful Southwest University Park. A big season is expected at the Big Dog House.

The Chihuahuas predict a new attendance record in their second year of existence.

“I’m looking to having more than 550,000 people come through these gates this year,” said Chihuahuas co-owner Josh Hunt, who is confident season two at El Paso’s Downtown Ballpark will be even better than season one, which is why ownership has invested nearly another million dollars in improvements. “We’re always looking to touch up the Ballpark and continue to make it fresh and new.”

Added Chihuahuas General Manager Brad Taylor: “We’re ready to get this building open again and get going.”

He too is expecting an even better second year, including a new single-game attendance record.

“Last year I think our highest game was like 10,145,” Taylor said. “Maybe we get to 10,500 or 11,000.”

Taylor pointed to many changes around the ballpark, including: “The Big Dog House has got a great new sign on it, which is pretty iconic.”

Perhaps the biggest change to the ballpark is the new entrance/exit down the right field line along Santa Fe Street. Last year there were only two sets of stairs. Now there are five sets of stairs, which should help avoid the bottleneck that happened often last season.

“This will make it a lot easier for fans to enjoy and get back in and out quicker,” Taylor said.

A huge new plaza area will not only expand the Ballpark’s footprint, but its possibilities.

“There’s going to be other things we can do this year, we haven’t been able to do,” Taylor said. “We’re going to try to have live music out here every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Kind of create that fun party atmosphere.”

Another addition are new fans on the concourse behind home plate and down the third base line.

“Basically the third baseline corridor is going to have a lot more moving air this year,” Taylor said. “We heard people had a concern about that and we wanted to make sure we addressed it.”

Chihuahuas ownership says season seat sales have already well exceeded 2,500. Opening Day sold out in an hour and the next four games are also close to selling out.