The Dodgers have unveiled ambitious plans for their latest stadium renovation:The Dodgers today plan to unveil their most extensive stadium renovation yet, a project that would transform the area behind the outfield to an entrance promenade featuring restaurants, shops, club offices and a Dodgers museum and add two parking garages to help replace the 2,000 spaces lost to construction.I've only been to Dodger Stadium once, but I was impressed with how nice the place remains nearly 50 years after being built. There has obviously been continuous improvement and maintenance over the years, and that more than anything stands as the best argument for privately funded stadiums. Yes, it may have cost Dodgers' ownership a lot (relatively speaking) to build the place, but it has paid for itself many times over and the place is now in a condition to where ownership reasonably believes that a $500M investment in further improvements makes economic sense. The result will be, in all likelihood, a nicer place for fans to enjoy a game, and a nice new source of revenue for the club.
In a letter sent Wednesday to season-ticket holders, owner Frank McCourt and President Jamie McCourt said the improvements would "give the stadium a chance to remain viable and perhaps see its 100th birthday."
As for the renovations/additions themselves, anything that incentives people to get to the ballpark early or stay late is probably a good thing, because the one thing I didn't like about the place was the traffic getting in and out of the more-or-less isolated stadium.
Of course, I'm an Ohio boy, and we don't have traffic, so maybe I'm overly sensitive to such things.
2 comments:
Query: Would the Dodgers be a better team if they had spent more on renovations instead of signing Juan Pierre, Andruw Jones, Jason Schmidt, Luis Gonzalez, Nomar Garciappara's second contract, and picking up Etaban Loiaza on waivers?
I'm not suggesting using the money on someone else, just using it for renovation. I think they may actually be better with a Kemp, Ethier, Repko OF, a Loney, LaRoche/DeWitt corner infield, and no Loaiza and Schmidt.
Not better by much, but it'd keep Torre from some stressing and feeling obligated to play inferior players.
Well, I think that the renovations are nice and all that. My problem is that i got an email from the dodgers on wednesday telling me to check back the dodgers website and the first thing that i thought was my ticket prices are going up. I love my top deck seats, but if they go up more than 2-3 dollars i will stop going to the 45ish games i go to a season.
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