Toronto Rogers Centre Renovations | ?m | ?s | Toronto Blue Jays | Populous

[Translude15]

Are you trying to say that woodbridges post was all drivel? Thank god I can sleep again

Anyways I think if we really want a view we should build a stadium above a skyscraper. That way we would have the best view in baseball. How would you get 30k people up an elevator to said stadium. I dunno. But it would be as doable as a stadium on an island but with a way better view.

Perhaps drivel is an exaggeration but season ticket holder or not, a lot of what you've said/suggested is hearsay and not rooted in reality. I'm also coming from the POV that the larger the capacity people claim the Dome has or as unorthodox or toilet bowl in appearance it may be, the more they are exaggerating the true nature of what the stadium is.

Current full capacity of the Dome is 49,282. You may be able to push above that with standing room only in certain areas, namely the Flight Deck, various concourse locations. Saying that, that max capacity of under 50,000 (reduced from ~52,000 in 2005 after 100 level concourses were redone) is broken down as follows:

~45,000 seats within the 100, 200 and 500 levels
~4,000 seats within all private boxes, suites etc. within the 300 and 400 levels
~500 standing room only locations

The highest ever baseball attendance in SkyDome history was 52,383 for the 1991 All Star Game. As stated, capacity has steadily reduced over the years to our current pubic hair shade over 49,000. Technically speaking, 45,000+ is a sellout.

My point here is the Dome and all of its foibles, is nowhere near as bad, nor has it ever been as bad as the original cookie-cutter, multipurpose stadia of yesteryear. Veterans Stadium, Three Rivers, Cinergy Field, Astrodome, Olympic Stadium and the Kingdome were all objectively worse than what SkyDome ever was or projects to be in the future. That's the advantage the team has moving forward in that whatever renovations or restructuring can be done to the existing structure, which by the sounds of it will be extensive, then they will undoubtedly make it more ballpark-esque.

IMO, some sort of rebuild or hybrid replace in place is the best bet. Keep the roof, add in some transparent panels. Take down the hotel and open up the place to the city. There's plenty of redevelopment land north of the stadium, over the tracks and to the east, although the Convention Centre is owned by Oxford, not Brookfield. I'm sure some arrangement is ongoing between all interested parties, the city included. Personally, relocation outside of the core is a non-starter. Reducing capacity down to 40,000 - 42,000 is ideal from a ticket selling perspective and in down years, 20,000 fans looks a lot better in a smaller venue. We shall see what the future holds.

 

[Translude15]

Opening day and October baseball is great in Rogers centre despite its faults. The fact it’s almost half empty 95% of the game kills the vibe of the spectators. I’m sure if the skydome was half its size in its exact same iteration we wouldn’t have all the complaints that we do here. I make fun but I do appreciate a view. It’s just not the reason I go to baseball games and I’m surely not going if it’s far out of the way. I loved downtown Toronto for a decade and went to the island twice.

2016 WC game was played with the roof open. See below. Likewise for all October home games last year.

A 25k crowd isn't horrible nor would I say it "kills the vibe" of the place. 35k - 40k is ideal but again, this goes back to the trend of MLB parks reducing overall capacity to create more intimate settings.

Ideally, the Jays and Rogers keep the retractable roof in tact which is much more convenient throughout April into early May and convert the venue from an indoor to an outdoor facility. That maintains the best of both worlds for fans and the team in terms of no weather related delays.

 

[TossYourJacket]

I can’t understand being too cheap to compete with the Yankees and Red Sox in payroll but be willing to spend close to a billion dollars on a stadium and land if the government doesn’t pitch in

Let's be real, they won't spend that much on a stadium if government doesn't pitch in. No way they don't try and force as much taxpayer dollars out of the government as possible, that's what pretty much every sports team does these days. Which in this case particularly is ridiculous given they already got an amazing deal on the current stadium. We should not buy Rogers another one just because they demand it.

 

[JMSRead]

Let's be real, they won't spend that much on a stadium if government doesn't pitch in. No way they don't try and force as much taxpayer dollars out of the government as possible, that's what pretty much every sports team does these days. Which in this case particularly is ridiculous given they already got an amazing deal on the current stadium. We should not buy Rogers another one just because they demand it.

When building a new stadium in the next few years was on the table, there was zero suggestion it would be publicly funded. Plenty of reports that it would be paid for by Rogers, who would recoup some of that money by making it part of a larger real estate play.

 

[TossYourJacket]

When building a new stadium in the next few years was on the table, there was zero suggestion it would be publicly funded. Plenty of reports that it would be paid for by Rogers, who would recoup some of that money by making it part of a larger real estate play.

Fair. Problem is Rogers does not own the land the stadium is built on. It's leased from Canada Lands. It's also zoned exclusively for a stadium, which is part of why Rogers got the stadium for so little money. So either they get the government to rezone the land, or they have to find alternate funding. If Rogers gets the government to rezone the land for condos, etc that is basically the government massively increasing the value of crown-owned land for the benefit of a corporation. So unless Rogers pays for the value of the rezoned land, it would still be effectively corporate welfare.

 

[C-mac]

Fair. Problem is Rogers does not own the land the stadium is built on. It's leased from Canada Lands. It's also zoned exclusively for a stadium, which is part of why Rogers got the stadium for so little money. So either they get the government to rezone the land, or they have to find alternate funding. If Rogers gets the government to rezone the land for condos, etc that is basically the government massively increasing the value of crown-owned land for the benefit of a corporation. So unless Rogers pays for the value of the rezoned land, it would still be effectively corporate welfare.

I don't think getting the land rezoned would be that big of an issue, and I believe that was the plan/idea.

 

[max]

I don't think getting the land rezoned would be that big of an issue, and I believe that was the plan/idea.

That may have been the plan at Rogers, but there's no reason the government should go along with it. The land is a public asset and rezoning it to provide a windfall to the lessee doesn't strike me as in the interest of the public.

 

[C-mac]

That may have been the plan at Rogers, but there's no reason the government should go along with it. The land is a public asset and rezoning it to provide a windfall to the lessee doesn't strike me as in the interest of the public.

Nothing a big bag of cash can't handle.

 

[JMSRead]

Some interesting comments by Mark Shapiro in this article: https://theathletic.com/3220823/202...ectations-rogers-centre-renovations-and-more/

Couple of summarised points:
- It's not true that this renovation is in place of a new stadium. Figuring out a stadium is incredibly complicated, and this renovation just buys them time to figure out a long term plan.
- This renovation will create more premium seating (which they have third least of in baseball), improve player facilities, improve concourses, and give more entertainment options in the park.
- This renovation is a midterm solution, and will just focus on the lower bowl and outfield. If at some point they decide a Rogers Centre renovation is the long term solution, then they would address the entirety of the stadium and it would probably involve some massive reconfiguration. They would look to make it a 'ballpark that closes' rather than a 'dome that opens'.
- It would be incredibly hard to walk away from this location, but if they do rebuild on site they will have to figure out what that means for interruption of play and where they play.

 

[T.E.C.II]

Has some posts been removed? Someone last night posted a fairly interesting post, but it's now gone.

 

[PinkLucy]

A known troll was removed.

 

[G.L.17]

Hazel Mae posted a photo of the new videoboard via Twitter, the other day:

 

[Richard White]

Hazel Mae posted a photo of the new videoboard via Twitter, the other day:
View attachment 390086

That is bad,

It looks like they have yet to finish it. What was Rogers thinking here?

 

[C-mac]

Not to mention, the middle part doesn't look any bigger or different then the old jumbotron. Waste of money.

 

[C-mac]

Did anybody even notice the turf? The way it resembles natural grass by having it striped like that.