Minute Maid Park

When closed, the Minute Maid Park retractable roof protects baseball fans from Houston’s heat, humidity, and tropical rainstorms. The three-panel roof is opened for outdoor games when the weather is favorable, and also to allow groundskeepers to maintain the ball park’s natural grass field. The large center panel stacks over the two outer panels beyond right field. The traction drive system moves the panels along flat crane rails to the closed in approximately twelve minutes. The roof is operated from a personal computer located in a control station that travels along with one of the roof panels. It is estimated to operate 80 times each year and has been designed and manufactured to operate with minimum maintenance for 50 years, during which time it will travel 730 miles.