TORONTO – Now that the finish line is days away on a nearly $400-million stadium renovation that’s been all-encompassing for Toronto Blue Jays staff over the past few years, the overwhelming feeling for Marnie Starkman is …
“Pride,” the club’s executive vice-president, baseball operations, said Thursday after helping unveil the fully renewed Rogers Centre, even as work continued on the finishing touches ahead of Monday’s home opener against the Seattle Mariners. “The reality of the project, we keep saying 18 months in five months – it’s really what it was. Overall it was probably like a 4-5 year project we did in two years.
“We were fortunate we had the roof,” she continued. “A lot of other ballparks have to do this in the middle of snow and weather and that was one thing we could control. The second we could get in here, we started. PCL (the contractor) did an incredible job. Our staff did an incredible job. And it was around the clock. … We were so involved in the design and so intentional on the design. I’m so proud of that because you’re seeing it come to fruition.”
The second phase of the renovation completely redid the Rogers Centre’s lower seating bowl, which was essentially untouched since the dome’s opening in 1989, reorienting all the seats so they now face the field. The chairs were widened, with cup-holders, the slope was raised to improve sightlines, the stairways between sections now have rails and anyone five-foot-eight or taller won’t have to fret about legroom any longer.
Visually, the stadium now looks seamless after a Frankenstein season in 2023 which featured the old bowl with an entirely redesigned outfield. In terms of how it plays, we’ll see, but there’s now about 3,000-square-feet less foul territory, although it’s more concentrated around the infield now, a new version of the same turf they’ve had the past three seasons and new high, angled walls leading to the outfield which could create interesting bounces on balls driven down the lines.
There are also new food and beverage items, further adding to how the place’s entire feel is changed.
“I’m excited for people to just experience the bowl differently,” said Starkman. “We didn’t make changes to the concourse, but the change of bringing the bowl in opened the concourse. The (new) drink rails. You go to different ballparks and that’s the point, walk around and experience it. You don’t have to sit in your seat all nine innings.
“Our old ballpark, that was all we had to offer, the seat. That’s what I’m most excited about.”
The changes have shrunk the dome’s capacity down to about 38,000 seats, a figure that flexes up to about 40,000 with outfield district tickets and private suites, although accessible seating is up 18 per cent, with new lowered drink rails ringing the lower bowl.
A key revenue driver will be the new 1,600 premium seats behind home plate, 210 of which are in the TD Lounge area that will be visible on TV behind home plate and has a striking resemblance to the premium seating behind the plate at Yankee Stadium. (Work continues on three premium clubs that are expected to open mid-season, as planned).
That’s no coincidence as Starkman along with Anuk Karunaratne, her former co-VP who this off-season left to join the St. Louis Cardinals, and several other staffers toured dozens of sports venues to help inform their decisions.
The new dugouts, for instance, are a nod to Minnesota’s Target Field, Atlanta’s Truist Park and Texas’ Globe Life Field. The new seats borrowed from what the Cubs did at Wrigley Field. The premium seating and lounges were informed by what the Yankees did as the Blue Jays partnered with the same concessionaire, Legends.
At the same time, “we’re still Toronto and there’s still a different way of experiencing sports here,” said Starkman. “Some of the premium, we took inspiration from ballparks, but we also looked at the city. We’re competing with King Street and all these other amenities that aren’t the same as Texas and Atlanta and Arizona and some of those places. So there were little bits of things that we took as we went along. The brick that we put behind home plate, we wanted a bit of character, but we knew we weren’t a red brick place, so it was like, OK, let’s make it our version of that. So many teams were so helpful in sharing that information. We appreciated that and it was really helpful in the design process.”
Blue Jays players and visitors will both have new clubhouses, with the home side getting all the bells and whistles. Finishing work on both continued frantically on Thursday to have everything done on time for Monday.
Starkman called this a generational renovation of the dome and smaller projects still lie ahead, with president and CEO Mark Shapiro saying in the spring that key areas of opportunity include some sort of kids area and areas recognizing team history, if not a single-spot focused club Hall of Fame.
Ben Nicholson-Smith is Sportsnet’s baseball editor. Arden Zwelling is a senior writer. Together, they bring you the most in-depth Blue Jays podcast in the league, covering off all the latest news with opinion and analysis, as well as interviews with other insiders and team members.
“We need to obsess every year with how do we continue to modernize this place,” said Starkman, since the club envisions the current iteration creating a 10-15 year runway during which bigger picture decisions about the dome’s future have to be made.
Before the Blue Jays embarked on this renovation, the idea of embarking on a larger-scale, sports-anchored real estate project was examined but that’s a massive undertaking that requires years of planning.
Considering what’s next isn’t imminent, but it’s on the horizon.
“I don’t really have a time-frame,” Shapiro said during the spring. “I just think, OK, we got done this, we’ve addressed what we had to address, we modernized fan experience, we modernized player experience, we need to turn our attention to the Dominican, think about our facilities there, some of our minor-league facilities, continue to do normal capital planning and projects and maintenance. But one of the things we’re going to need to think about is long-term planning. So that just involves research, that involves understanding alternatives and a plan. It’s just responsible business to think about that. …
“We’ll continue to continue to maintain and approach capital the way you would as if (the dome) was a new ballpark. But we also have to think about life-span and normal course of business.”
For the time being, the Blue Jays and their fans have a renewed stadium to enjoy, the most substantive change to their customer experience since the dome first opened.
The French league’s legal commission has ordered Paris Saint-Germain to pay Kylian Mbappé the 55 million euros ($61 million) in unpaid wages that he claims he’s entitled to, the league said Thursday.
The league confirmed the decision to The Associated Press without more details, a day after the France superstar rejected a mediation offer by the commission in his dispute with his former club.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former football star Reggie Bush was at his Encino home Tuesday night when three male suspects attempted to break in, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
“Everyone is safe,” Bush said in a text message to the newspaper.
The Los Angeles Police Dept. told the Times that a resident of the house reported hearing a window break and broken glass was found outside. Police said nothing was stolen and that three male suspects dressed in black were seen leaving the scene.
Bush starred at Southern California and in the NFL. The former running back was reinstated as the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner this year. He forfeited it in 2010 after USC was hit with sanctions partly related to Bush’s dealings with two aspiring sports marketers.
VANCOUVER – A fresh face has been gracing the B.C. Lions‘ highlight reels in recent weeks.
Midway through his second CFL campaign, wide receiver Ayden Eberhardt has contributed touchdowns in two consecutive games.
The 26-year-old wide receiver from Loveland, Colo., was the lone B.C. player to reel in a passing major in his team’s 37-23 victory over the league-leading Montreal Alouettes last Friday. The week before, he notched his first CFL touchdown in the Lions’ win over the Ottawa Redblacks.
“It’s been awesome. It’s been really good,” Eberhardt said of his recent play. “At the end of the day, the biggest stat to me is if we win. But who doesn’t love scoring?”
He’ll look to add to the tally Friday when the Leos (7-6) host the Toronto Argonauts.
Eberhardt signed with B.C. as a free agent in January 2023 and spent much of last season on the practice squad before cementing a role on the roster this year.
The six-foot-two, 195-pound University of Wyoming product has earned more opportunities in his second season, said Lions’ head coach and co-general manager Rick Campbell.
“He’s a super hard worker and very smart. He understands, has high football IQ, as we call it,” Campbell said.
The fact that Eberhardt can play virtually every receiving position helps.
“He could literally go into a game and we could throw him into a spot and he’d know exactly what he’s doing,” the coach said. “That allows him to play fast and earn the quarterback’s trust. And you see him making plays.”
Eberhardt credited his teammates, coaches and the rest of the Lions’ staff with helping him prepare for any situation he might face. They’ve all spent time teaching him the ins and outs of the Canadian game, or go over the playbook and run routes after practice, he said.
“I’ve played every single position on our offence in a game in the last two years, which is kind of crazy. But I love playing football,” he said. “I want to play any position that the team needs me to play.”
While B.C.’s lineup is studded with stars like running back William Stanback — who has a CFL-high 938 rushing yards — and wide receiver Justin McInnis — who leads the league in both receiving yards (1,074) and receiving TDs (seven) — versatility has been a critical part of the team’s back-to-back wins.
“I think we’ve got a lot of talented guys who deserve to get the ball and make big plays when they have the ball in their hands. So it’s really my job to get them the ball as much as possible,” said quarterback Nathan Rourke.
“I think that makes it easy when you can lean on those guys and, really, we’re in a situation where anyone can have a big game. And I think that’s a good place to be.”
Even with a talented lineup, the Lions face a tough test against an eager Argos side.
Toronto lost its second straight game Saturday when it dropped a 41-27 decision to Ottawa.
“We’ll have our hands full,” Rourke said. “We’ll have to adjust on the fly to whatever their game plan is. And no doubt, they’ll be ready to go so we’ll have to be as well.”
The two sides have already met once this season when the Argos handed the Lions a 35-27 loss in Toronto back on June 9.
A win on Friday would vault B.C. to the top of the West Division standings, over the 7-6 Winnipeg Blue Bombers who are on a bye week.
Collecting that victory isn’t assured, though, even with Toronto coming in on a two-game skid, Campbell said.
“They’ve hit a little bit of a rut, but they’re a really good team,” he said. “They’re very athletic. And you can really see (quarterback Chad Kelly’s) got zip on the ball. When you see him in there, he can make all the throws. So we’re expecting their best shot.”
TORONTO ARGONAUTS (6-6) AT B.C. LIONS (7-6)
Friday, B.C. Place
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: The Lions boast a 4-1 home record this season, including a 38-12 victory over the Redblacks at Royal Athletic Park in Victoria, B.C., on Aug. 31. The Argos have struggled outside of BMO Field and hold a 1-5 away record. Trips to the West Coast haven’t been easy for Toronto in recent years — since 2003, the club is 4-14 in road games against B.C.
CENTURION: B.C. defensive back Garry Peters is set to appear in his 100th consecutive game. The 32-year-old from Conyers, Ga., is a two-time CFL all-star who has amassed 381 defensive tackles, 19 special teams tackles and 16 interceptions over seven seasons. “Just being on the field with the guys every day, running around, talking trash back and forth, it keeps me young,” Peters said. “It makes me feel good, and my body doesn’t really feel it. I’ve been blessed to be able to play 100 straight.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
