For the first time in 33 years, the home of the Toronto Blue Jays will undergo a massive $300 million renovation that will transform the city’s ballpark into a world-class ballpark.
The baseball club’s top management announced the privately funded overhaul on Thursday, which they say is focused on modernizing the fan experience and building elite player facilities.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Jays President and CEO Mark Shapiro said in a presentation announcing the changes.
“When the fans come into the building next year, sit in these seats and in the seats below, with the Canadian flag unfurled on the field behind us, it will be a very different sight, a dramatically different view and a stadium different,” Shapiro said. .
The first phase of renovations will begin during the 2022-2023 offseason, starting with level 100 and level 200.
These seating areas will house what the Jays call new “social spaces” with patios, railings, bars and gazebos.
The Bullpens, where pitchers warm up, will be raised and surrounded by new seats so fans can get even closer to their favorite players.
The 100-level seats will also be moved to the new outfield walls, so fans are within reach of the outfield.
On the 500 level, there will be two new social decks, similar to the existing WestJet Flight Deck, where fans can grab a drink and socialize with other fans regardless of where they are seated.
Additionally, each and every seat in the 500 level will be replaced, something that hasn’t happened since the building opened.
The updates aren’t limited to the fan experience.
On the field level, there are plans to build a family room for player families, a 5,000 square foot weight room, as well as staff locker rooms.
All of these projects will be completed during the offseason and will not affect the game of baseball, the club said.
The team explained that the exterior of the building, the modification of the turf field and the roof are not in the current scope of the renovation plans.
The second set of renovations will begin in the 2023-2024 offseason and will include improvements to the Level 100 infield, premium club and field-level social spaces, and clubhouses and player facilities.
The Rogers Center opened in 1989 as the Sky Dome at a cost of approximately $570 million, or approximately $1 billion today, and was the first stadium built with a fully retractable motorized roof.
Two years ago, a report in the Globe and Mail suggested that the Jays and developer Brookfield Asset Management Inc. they were working on plans for a new stadium downtown. The Blue Jays later confirmed they were “exploring their options” regarding the future of the Rogers Center, but put work on hold amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
As previously reported by TSN, the club believes the renovations, which will see architectural firm Populous at the helm, will extend the stadium’s lifespan by another 10 to 15 years.
Prior to Thursday’s announcement, the Rogers Center introduced a massive 8,000-square-foot video board ahead of the 2022 season that allows for a better viewing experience for both fans in the stadium and those watching from home .
With archives from Chris Fox