Feeling hot at Chase Field? You're not alone as one fan says it 'felt like it was a jungle'

PHOENIX - The Arizona Diamondbacks are on a hot streak, and the fans at Chase Field are feeling the heat too.

There are lots of complaints about the hot temperatures inside downtown Phoenix's Chase Field, especially in the upper deck. Management knows all about it, too.

If you step inside Chase Field during a packed house, all of a sudden that ice-cold water doesn't seem like a bad idea.

"I was here Saturday and yesterday and both times I felt like it was a jungle. There was no A/C. It was sold out, and it was all crowded," a fan named Joey Fraley said.

Derrick Hall, president and CEO of the Diamondbacks, says a 26-year-old cooling system is to blame.

"It's the same system that also cools many of the buildings downtown. So what happens is, they chill water, they actually freeze it, and then those cubes go back into the building, and it comes in at a very low temperature, like the 30s, but we can't go over 12–15 hours of having it on so we have to really map it out in a very technical way," he explained.

Not only do the hot temps have Diamondbacks fans talking, but players have also spoken up.

"It's like pitching in the jungle here sometimes. I don't know how it gets so humid. I swear it's less humid in St. Louis in the summer than here. Just got to battle through it," said D-backs pitcher Jordan Montgomery.

Season ticket holders are sounding off, too.

"It's almost as if it goes off, and then you can feel it come back on," Terry Young said. "I also think it depends on where you're sitting."

Kelly Dale said, "I think if it went down a little bit more, I think that would probably be a little bit more suffice for a lot of visitors. People from out of town trying to have that experience, and you don't want to have it ruined by being super hot and trying to enjoy a ball game."

The temperature inside Chase Field sits around 76 or 77 degrees. Hall says the goal is to get it back down in the low 70s and the only fix is going to be redoing the whole cooling system.

"Once we know that we are going to be here for a long time, we are going to be able to overhaul that system and I hope it can be done this offseason when we can tweak it and get it back to the shape that it was say for the beginning of the building," Hall said.

In the meantime, Hall says he's considering bringing in fans until they can come up with a permanent solution.