Busch Stadium will offer a new social space beginning with the 2018 season, as the St. Louis Cardinals are undertaking a ballpark renovation project.
Leading up to next season, the Cardinals will be working on an overhaul that makes Busch Stadium one of the latest ballparks around Major League Baseball to add a new social space. The Cardinals have already removed several sections of seating in right field, kicking off a project that will result in new bars and gathering spaces in an area of Busch Stadium that is open to all fans.
Additional details on the space are expected to be announced by the Cardinals later this winter. More from The St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
An official agreed with the description that the openness and “hanging out” aspect of the area is similar to taking Ballpark Village and plopping it in the ballpark. The Cardinals sold ticket subscriptions this past year, and such a mix zone in the ballpark would be a place to go for standing-room only.
At Coors Field in Denver, the Colorado Rockies removed sections of seating on the third level to clear a 38,000 square foot area that now features a tavern, a burger joint and Jack Daniel’s Terrace Bar. There is also an “urban garden setting, VIP cabanas, numerous televisions, and live pregame entertainment,” according to the site. Called “The Rooftop,” the area is one of the inspirations for the Cardinals, who have also mixed in some ideas from the ground-level area Petco Park has beyond the outfield wall.
The recent projects at Coors Field and Petco Park were noted as models for Busch Stadium, and those two examples are certainly part of the ongoing trend of social spaces at ballparks. That trend was evident at the Atlanta Braves’ SunTrust Park when it opened for the 2017 season, and with recent renovations at several spring training facilities–including the New York Yankees’ George M. Steinbrenner Field, and the Detroit Tigers’ Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Photo of Busch Stadium by Mark Cryan.
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