Why are the Citizens Bank Park seats blue?

Baseball lovers Sara Corsey and Alen Beljin have been dating for two months. He roots for the Yankees. Corsey, a Phillie fanatic, hopes readers forgive his transgression.

Despite their sometimes opposing fandoms, their love for baseball brings them together. When games are on, the pair tunes in, sharing little-known facts about the sport with each other.

During a recent game, Corsey, a lifelong Phillies fan, wondered about the color of the seats at Citizens Bank Park, even contemplating taking a tour of the stadium to ask a guide.

Beljin — determined to surprise Corsey with an answer — threw a curve ball into her plans and asked Curious Philly, The Inquirer’s forum for questions about the city and region: Why are the seats at Citizens Bank Park the color blue?

They each had their own guesses.

Corsey linked the seat color to aviation.

“Maybe because you can see the stadium when you fly into Philadelphia airport, so [passengers] don’t see a sea of red that nearby,” said the Philly native.

Beljin went in a different direction.

“Maybe it looks better on TV if they don’t fill the stadium,” Beljin said. “Maybe it’s something psychological, like how casinos have no clocks and a lot of high energy.”

They were both off base.

Before Citizens Bank Park became the Phillies’ home in April 2004, the team played at Veterans Stadium.

The stadium, which opened in 1971, featured yellow, brown, and orange seats throughout the years.

With the 1996 Major League Baseball All-Star Game coming up, the stadium “got dressed up” by replacing the earth-tone seats with blue ones for the 1995 season. The shade picked was sapphire blue.

When it was time to move to Citizens Bank Park, an “internal decision” was made to carry over the blue seat color for both the Phillies’ ballpark and their spring training facility in Clearwater, Fla., according to spokesperson for the Phillies who didn’t elaborate on why blue was chosen.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have overthought things so much,” Corsey said upon learning the history, laughing to the point that it was hard for her to speak.

“Is it safe to say, Sara, that the simplest answer was the answer?” Beljin replied.

The Montco couple hasn’t been to a Phillies game together yet but hopes to soon sit in the sapphire blue seats and enjoy a game.