Located in sunny San Diego, the Padres play in one of the best settings in baseball. With an aging Jack Murphy Stadium and having to share it with the San Diego Chargers, the Padres needed a ballpark of their own. By the late 1990s the team began to build support for a new ballpark. After making it to the World Series in 1998, the voters of San Diego approved a bond to allow construction of a ballpark in downtown San Diego. Originally, the 42,445 seat stadium was scheduled to open in 2002. However, in October 2000 funding for the construction of the ballpark ended and was halted for more than a year. In November 2001, the City of San Diego approved a $166 million bond in order for construction to resume. In January 2003, Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. purchased the naming rights for $60 million over 22 years, thus the ballpark was named Petco Park.

The San Diego Padres played their first game at Petco Park on April 8, 2004 against the San Francisco Giants. The $411 million ballpark is built of stucco, brick, and steel. Petco Park is a baseball only stadium with a grass field. Leading up to the entrance of the ballpark, fans pass by a palm court, water walls, and jacaranda trees. Once inside the new ballpark, all fans have an excellent view of the field. All of the 42,500 blue seats are close to the field and are angled toward the pitchers mound. The three tier grandstand extends from the right field foul pole around to homeplate and to the left field foul pole. At the left field foul pole is a San Diego landmark, the Western Metal Supply Building is part of the left field wall and foul pole. The Western Metal Supply Building houses the team store on the first floor, that has an opening to allow fans into a standing room area in left field. Located on the second and third floors of the building are party/luxury suites, with a restaurant on the fourth floor. Located on top of the building are 800 bleachers that provide tremendous views of the ballpark. These bleachers can be retracted in order for the area to be turned into a party area for fans.