1 of 5
From left to right, Rangers first baseman Ronald Guzman, Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams, Texas Live! Chief Operating Officer Jim Watry and right fielder Nomar Mazara at the grand opening for Sports & Social's new $1 million bowling expansion.
2 of 5
Rangers Nomar Mazara and Ronald Guzman get ready for the first roll down Sports & Social's new bowling alley expansion.
3 of 5
Rangers Nomar Mazara and Ronald Guzman get ready for the first roll down Sports & Social's new bowling alley expansion.
4 of 5
Jim Watry, Texas Live! Chief Operating Officer, introduced Sports & Social's new bowling alley before its grand opening Monday.
5 of 5
Sports & Social held the grand opening for its new $1 million bowling alley expansion Monday.
It was a big day for the Texas Rangers. First thing Monday morning, they held the grand opening for the Texas Rangers Golf Course, a $24 million investment that stretches over 7,000 yards of fresh golfing terrain. Then later that afternoon, Texas Live! officially launched its $1 million expansion to the Sports & Social venue right next to the Globe Life Park, a bowling alley and special event space on its second floor.
And it’s safe to say that Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams had a lot of fun between the two openings.
“He played 18 holes,” Rob Matwick, Rangers Executive Vice President of Business Operations, says. “And now he's up there bowling.”
The 5,000-square-foot expansion includes two boutique bowling lanes, two private dining rooms in the back and VIP seating on the patio that overlooks the future Globe Life Field and the Texas Live! Plaza. Gatwick remarked that ever since Sports & Social opened fall last year, the Rangers were looking for an amenity on the second floor that would fit in with the rest of Sports & Social’s aesthetic.
Between the venue’s skeeball machines, table tennis, shuffle puck, air hockey and virtual golf simulators, a bowling alley seemed right up Sports & Social’s own alley.
“It just sort of adds to the entire experience here at Sports & Social,” Matwick says. “If you want to do a small corporate meeting, you could meet in the back, bowl for a little while, have dinner, mingle and step out onto the plaza. It’s a really dynamic space.”
The grand opening was marked by the special guest appearance of Rangers' first baseman Ronald Guzman and right fielder Nomar Mazara, who kicked off festivities with a first roll down the new lanes. Jim Watry, Texas Live! Chief Operating Officer, says the bowling alley will make a notable staple as they continue to expand Texas Live!.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Watry says. “A lot of hard work went into getting this open today.”
Williams says that Arlington’s Entertainment District will open its anchor hotel, the Flagship Live! by Loews, later this summer, while the Rangers’ new golf clubhouse and $1.2 million Globe Life Field Ballpark will open next year.
Between it all, Williams stated that Arlington is building in momentum as a leader in tourism in North Texas, and he’s excited to see where it goes from here.
“Arlington is growing,” Williams says. “And we are going to continue to grow this entertainment district. The opportunity for us to be a national destination here at the center of the country is phenomenal, and Texas Live! has really opened the doors to that.”
To learn more about Texas Live! and Sports & Social, call 817.852.6688 or go online at Texas-Live.com.