RANGERS SEEK ROOFED STADIUM TO BEAT THE HEAT; MAVERICKS GO GAMING

Every day, the staff of Dallas Innovates searches the web, scans their emails closely and gets tips from readers about interesting articles that might interest you. Here are three for today.

The city of Arlington and theTexas Rangers baseball club announced Friday that they plan to build a new stadium for the Major League Baseball team with a retractable roof (to beat the summer heat) that could be open no later than 2021. It would replace the venerable  22-year-old Globe Life Park. The Arlington City Council will be asked to approve an agreement between the city and the Rangers on Tuesday for the new $1 billion ballpark. The agreement needs voter approval, and would run through Jan. 1, 2054, the Rangers said on the team’s website. That puts a damper on the recent talk by some leaders in the city of Dallas who have floated stadium ideas of their own to try to lure the team eastward.

Farther east down Interstate 30, the Dallas Mavericks’ new venture isn’t in bricks and mortar, but is the virtual world of gaming, The Mavericks and Mineplex LLC have signed an exclusive partnership to create a “Dallas Mavericks World” in Minecraft. The computer game will have a scale model of American Airlines Center on the Mineplex server, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. The project should launched this summer, according to the report.

If you get on a DART bus being driven by Jesus Rodriguez, feel at ease. He recently was crowned as the best bus driver in North America at the International Bus Rodeo in Charlotte, North Carolina. Rodriguez drove a 40-foot bus through the course better than 39 competitors, KERA reported. He’s been driving for DART since 1977.

Photo Courtesy City of Arlington

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