Estadio Monumental de Caracas Simón Bolívar (''Monumental Stadium of Caracas Simón Bolívar'') is a baseball stadium in the city of

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. Specifically, it is located in the neighborhood of La Rinconada next to the

Poliedro de Caracas The Poliedro de Caracas ("Caracas Polyhedron Arena") is an indoor sports arena, located on the grounds adjacent to Hipodromo La Rinconada, in Caracas, Venezuela. It was designed by architect Thomas C. Howard of Synergetics, Inc., in Raleigh, NC, ...

, the Rinconada Racetrack and the future Venezuelan National Football Stadium in the so-called "Hugo Chávez" Park in the Coche parish, south of the Libertador municipality and the

Capital District A capital district, capital region, or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politic ...

and west of the metropolitan area of

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. For this reason, it is also known as Estadio de Béisbol La Rinconada (''La Rinconada Baseball Stadium''). The new stadium, designed by

Gensler Gensler is a global design and architecture firm headquartered in San Francisco, California. It is the largest architecture firm in the world by revenue and number of architects. In 2022, Gensler generated $1.785 billion in revenue, the most o ...

, meets the highest world standards of its kind, and arises from the need to receive a larger number of spectators than the traditional University Stadium of the Central University of Venezuela ( Estadio Universitario), which cannot be enlarged because it is part of the campus of the University City of Caracas, an architectural complex that was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000 by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Inaugurated on February 2, 2023, by Venezuelan President

Nicolas Maduro Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

, it hosted

2023 Caribbean Series The 2023 Caribbean Series was the 65th edition of the Caribbean Series, played at La Rinconada Baseball Stadium in Caracas and Jorge Luis García Carneiro Stadium in La Guaira, Venezuela from February 2 to February 10, 2023. The series brought ...

; the championship game between

and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

broke the tournament's attendance record for a championship game, with 35,691 fans in the stands.

Name

Planned as early as 2013, the stadium was originally named "Estadio Comandante

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

," after the late Venezuelan president, but this generated controversy especially in sectors of the political opposition in Venezuela. However, in November 2022 the Venezuelan government announced that the stadium would tentatively be named "Estadio Isaías 'Látigo' Chávez" in honor of the late Venezuelan baseball player. In 2023, though, the

Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation The Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation (), or CPBC, is the body responsible for organizing the Caribbean Series, an annual club baseball tournament contested by the winter league baseball champions of the Caribbean and Latin American re ...

referred to the stadium simply as the "Estadio La Rinconada", as part of the official calendar for the

, due to the area of the Coche parish where the stadium was being built. To distinguish it from the

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

stadium being built next to it, it was also referred to as "Estadio de Béisbol de La Rinconada." Finally, a few days after its inauguration, the

Venezuelan government Venezuela is a federal presidential republic. The chief executive is the President of Venezuela who is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the President. Legislative power is vested in the National Assembl ...

adopted the official name of "Estadio Monumental de Caracas

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...

" in honor of the Venezuelan military, political and independence hero of the same name.

History

For years, the possibility of building a new

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

stadium was evaluated due to the fact that the one located in Ciudad Universitaria had exceeded its capacity. In 2013 it was finally decided to approve a project as part of the Hugo Chávez Park in La Rinconada, a complex that also includes among others a Football stadium. That same year earthworks began very close to the

. The stadium was delayed due to economic difficulties but new resources were approved in 2015 and 2016. However, by 2021 it had not yet been completed. In 2022 the government of the Mayor's Office of the Libertador Municipality announced new resources for its completion. The president of the

Venezuelan Professional Baseball League The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (, or LVBP) is the top-level professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year. History Background and predecessors Baseball had been play ...

, Giuseppe Palmisano said that although initially the 2023 Caribbean Series would be held only at the University Stadium of the UCV (San Pedro Parish, Caracas) and the Forum State of La Guaira (Macuto Parish) it is expected that the structure will be completed in November 2022 so that it can also host the event to be held in February 2023. The stadium was finally approved to serve as one of the two venues for the

Caribbean Series The Caribbean Series ( Spanish: ''Serie del Caribe'') is an annual club tournament contested by professional baseball teams in Latin America. It is organized by the Caribbean Professional Baseball Confederation. The series is normally played in ...

in February 2023 along with La Guaira Forum Stadium. The

Leones del Caracas The Caracas Base Ball Club C.A., better known by its commercial name as the Leones del Caracas, is a professional baseball team of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (LVPB). The owner and sole shareholder of the sports club is Ricardo C ...

, one of the major baseball clubs from Venezuela, moved to the Monumental Stadium of Caracas Simón Bolívar in the 2023 season after spending the previous 70 years at the Estadio Universitario.

Dimensions

Dimensions of the playing field of the Monumental Stadium of Caracas Simón Bolívar are:

References

Baseball venues in Venezuela Sports venues completed in 2023

Estadio Universitario de Caracas The Estadio Universitario is a multi-use stadium in Caracas, Venezuela, and is used mostly for baseball games. The stadium holds 20,723 people and was built in 1952 for the first Latin American Series (1952), Latin American Series. The Estadi ...

Sports venues in Caracas {{baseball-venue-stub

Name

History

Dimensions

See also

References