PHILADELPHIA — While there's talk of the Eagles one day playing their home games in a stadium with a roof, that's not something on the radar of the Phillies regarding Citizens Bank Park.
Ahead of a 2026 season that will see the Phillies host the MLB All-Star Game, Phillies managing partner John Middleton was asked whether he sees Citizens Bank always being an outdoor stadium.
"I do," Middleton said Tuesday evening. "First of all, the cost of putting a roof on something like this is really, really expensive. And it completely changes the architecture and the feeling of ... are there 10 days where you would like to have the roof? Yeah, when it's 40 degrees and rainy in late October or early March, early April. But that's a handful of games."
Middleton elaborated on the differences between playing at Citizens Bank Park — which opened in 2004 — and a stadium with a roof.
"To be outside in the middle of the spring and summer and early fall is special," Middleton remarked.
"And if you go to stadiums that have roofs, they're really massive. They feel heavy. Frankly, you feel enclosed and tight. So I don't want that."
There's perhaps more of a temptation to have a roof at a football field when the season is played during the fall and winter. Having a roof also allows you to host neutral-site events like a Super Bowl or Final Four. The World Series, at least for now, isn't a neutral-site event. And baseball fields aren't big enough to host major events like the Final Four. So there are different considerations for a baseball field than football, and Middleton says he doesn't want to destroy the open-air vision that the late David Montgomery had when designing the park.
Also, when talking generally about how Citizens Bank Park has aged ahead of its 23rd season of play, Middleton noted that baseball stadiums tend to age much more gracefully than other sports facilities. That gives him hope that Citizens Bank Park could still be the home of the Phillies for generations to come.
"It's interesting, because baseball stadiums are kind of like good wine — they improve with age," Middleton said. "They take on an ambience. Other stadiums and arenas don't tend to do that. So you think about Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, well over 100 years old now, and they look great. And credit to the Cubs and Red Sox for investing the money in the physical facilities to upgrade them over time to kind of meet the demands of new consumers.
"So there's no reason in my mind, why this stadium shouldn't be operating 100 years from now, and operating well — really well. That would be my personal goal."
