April 4, 2024, 3:56 p.m.
TORONTO – Marnie Starkman is overwhelmed with emotion as the finish line for the nearly $400 million stadium renovation that has been the entire effort of the entire Toronto Blue Jays staff over the past few years approaches. teeth…
The team’s executive vice president of baseball operations helped unveil the completely renovated Rogers Center on Thursday as finishing touches continue for Monday’s home opener against the Seattle Mariners. Afterwards, he said, “I’m proud.” “The reality of the project is, we keep saying he’ll finish in 18 months, he’ll finish in five months, but that’s what it was. Overall, it probably takes four to five years. The project was something he did in two years.
“We were lucky to have a roof over our heads,” she continued. “A lot of other ballparks had to do this in the middle of snow and weather, but that was one thing we could control. The moment we were able to get in here, we We started. PCL (contractor) did a great job. Our staff did a great job. And it was around the clock. … We were very involved in the design. , was very intentional with the design. I’m so proud of it because I’m seeing it come to fruition.”
The second phase of the renovation involved completely redoing Rogers Center’s lower seating bowl, which had remained essentially untouched since the Dome opened in 1989, and reorienting all seats to face the field. The seats are wider, cupholders have been installed, and the ramp has been raised to improve sight lines. The stairs between sections are equipped with handrails, so if you’re over 5 feet 8 inches tall, you won’t have to worry about legroom anymore.
Cosmetically, the stadium now looks seamless after the 2023 Frankenstein season, which featured an old bowl with a completely redesigned outfield. We’ll see how that plays, but the foul area has been reduced by about 3,000 square feet, but is now concentrated around the infield. It’s a new version of the same turf they’ve used the past three seasons, and a new high, angled wall leading to the outfield can create interesting bounces for balls hit onto the line.
There are also new ones food and beveragesand even changes the whole atmosphere of the place.
“I’m excited for people to experience the bowl in a different way,” Starkman said. “We didn’t make any changes to the concourse, but the changes that brought in the bowl opened up the concourse. (New) drink rails. It’s important to go to different ballparks and walk around and experience them. During the nine innings. You don’t have to stay seated all the time.
“Our old ballpark, all we could offer was seating. That’s what I’m most excited about.”
The changes will reduce the dome’s capacity to about 38,000 seats, which can rise to about 40,000 with outfield tickets and private suites, but will increase the number of accessible seats by 18% and increase the number of accessible seats in the lower bowl. A new low drink rail has been installed surrounding it.
A key revenue driver will be the new 1,600 premium seats behind home plate, 210 of which are located in the TD Lounge area, which is visible on the TV behind home plate, and is surprisingly similar to the premium seats behind the bats at Yankee Stadium. resemble. (Work continues on the three premium clubs, which are scheduled to open mid-season as planned).
Starkman, along with former co-VP Anuk Karunaratne, who left the company this offseason to join the St. Louis Cardinals, and several other staffers toured dozens of sports venues to inform the decision. is not a coincidence.
For example, the new dugout is reminiscent of Target Field in Minnesota, Twist Park in Atlanta and Globe Life Field in Texas. The new seats borrow from what the Cubs did at Wrigley Field. The premium seats and lounge mirror what the Yankees did when the Blue Jays partnered with fellow concessionaire Legends.
At the same time, “we’re still Toronto and there’s still another way to experience sports here,” Starkman said. “Part of Premium was inspired by the ballpark, but we also looked at the city. We wanted to see King Street and other amenities that were different from Texas, Atlanta, Arizona, and some other places. So, as I progressed, I gradually realized something.I wanted the bricks placed behind the home base to have a bit of personality, but this is not the place for the red bricks. We knew that, so we were like, let’s make it our version. So many teams were so helpful in sharing that information, and we really appreciated that. This was extremely helpful during the design process.”
Both Blue Jays players and visitors will have a new clubhouse, with the home team equipped with all the bells and whistles. Work continued desperately on Thursday to get everything completed in time for Monday.
Starkman called this a generational renovation of the dome and said smaller projects will continue, with President and CEO Mark Shapiro announcing in the spring that said it will include some sort of kids area and an area that evaluates the team’s history, if not one that focuses on a single spot. Inducted into the Club Hall of Fame.
“We have to think every year about how do we continue to modernize this place,” Starkman said. That’s because the club envisions a 10- to 15-year runway with the current iteration, during which time it will need to make big-picture decisions about the Dome’s future.
Before the Blue Jays embarked on this renovation, the idea of embarking on a larger, sports-focused real estate project was considered, but that would be a massive undertaking that would require years of planning.
Thinking about what’s next isn’t imminent, but it’s almost there.
“There is no specific deadline,” Shapiro said during the spring. “I just said, OK, we got this done, we have to deal with what we had to deal with, modernize the fan experience, modernize the player experience and turn our attention to Dominica. , we need to think about our facilities in the Dominican Republic. Our minor league facilities will continue with normal capital planning, projects and maintenance. But one of the things we need to think about is is a long-term plan. So it simply requires research and understanding the alternatives and plans. It is a responsible job to think about it.…
“We continue to maintain and approach the capital as if (the dome) is a new ballpark. But we also have to think about longevity and the normal flow of business.”
For the time being, the Blue Jays and their fans can enjoy a renovated stadium, the most substantial change to their customer experience since the Dome first opened.