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

[rbt]

From what I've heard from my friends at Oxford, this will be a retrofit of the existing stadium not a completely new build.

Did they happen to mention how Oxford is involved? Other than being the northern neighbour of course. Perhaps there is consideration to extend their Union Centre proposal south of the railway tracks or integrate the projects in some way?

 

[syn]

It's the last active cookie cutter stadium in existence.... that alone makes it outdated. Also found it interesting they sent a survey asking a ton of questions .. including postal code. That reminded me of the Braves ... who used zip code info from a similar survey to abandon their downtown stadium and move to a new stadium in a suburb of Atlanta as over 70% were coming from that suburb. Maybe rogers isn't as attached to the downtown site as some earlier thought..

How on earth is it 'cookie-cutter'? Do you mean multi-purpose?

What specifically makes it outdated to the point that it needs to be replaced by an entirely new building?

 

[Kitsune]

The seats are not oriented correctly, it's way too big for a modern baseball stadium, It uses turf on concrete instead of grass on dirt, it looks like a bunker on outside, it's 30 years old so at the historical limit for these kind of stadiums... etc.

 

[T.E.C.II]

I know it's a pipe dream, and would never happen, but I still maintain a stadium where Billy Bishop airport is would offer a spectacular view of the skyline, and would be one of the best in baseball, especially as the skyline continues to develop. You wouldn't get this backdrop from the port lands.

 

[syn]

The seats are not oriented correctly, it's way too big for a modern baseball stadium, It uses turf on concrete instead of grass on dirt, it looks like a bunker on outside, it's 30 years old so at the historical limit for these kind of stadiums... etc.

1) How would you orient the seats?
2) Is it way too big? Current capacity is about 4,000 more than Camden Yards, a stadium constantly cited as an example to emulate.
3) It doesn't have the greatest exterior experience, but that can be improved.
4) I'm not sure what this even means. There is no historical limit for these kinds of stadiums. The most common reason for replacing relatively new stadiums is economic - creating a venue with new revenue streams (such as private boxes), etc. This is not a problem for the Rogers Centre.

 

[C-mac]

How is it completely outdated?

I don't think the Rogers Centre is stopping anyone from tuning into televised games.

Simple, it's noot a ball park. It's a multi-purpose stadium, that's way too big, and players don't like it. Not to mention it's turf not grass.

 

[C-mac]

1) How would you orient the seats?
2) Is it way too big? Current capacity is about 4,000 more than Camden Yards, a stadium constantly cited as an example to emulate.
3) It doesn't have the greatest exterior experience, but that can be improved.
4) I'm not sure what this even means. There is no historical limit for these kinds of stadiums. The most common reason for replacing relatively new stadiums is economic - creating a venue with new revenue streams (such as private boxes), etc. This is not a problem for the Rogers Centre.

Camden yards has a much more intimate feel to it. Your answer is in your own words. "Camden Yards, a stadium constantly cited as an example to emulate".

Ask most die hard baseball fans to rank the stadiums, and Skydome will be in the bottom 3 with Oakland and Tampa being the only two worse.

 

[syn]

Simple, it's noot a ball park. It's a multi-purpose stadium, that's way too big, and players don't like it. Not to mention it's turf not grass.

If that's the primary reason to tear it down then we absolutely shouldn't.

None of the reasons you've cited would impact television ratings.

Interestingly, here's what Bo Bichette things of the Rogers Centre:


"And let me get this out of the way up front: I know some people around the league might not like our park. They might think it doesn’t “hold up” compared to other parks.

Nah.

The Rogers Centre? It’s sick. For real.

Is it perfect? I don’t know — who cares.

You either get it or you don’t.

For me, it’s got this feeling when I’m there that’s just … it’s hard to explain. It’s just special. You’ve got the CN Tower up above you … the hotel out in centerfield. It just feels BIG. It’s big-time. I walk out on the field there, and it’s like, Yeah … it’s about to go down."

 

[C-mac]

If that's the primary reason to tear it down then we absolutely shouldn't.

None of the reasons you've cited would impact television ratings.

Interestingly, here's what Bo Bichette things of the Rogers Centre:


"And let me get this out of the way up front: I know some people around the league might not like our park. They might think it doesn’t “hold up” compared to other parks.

Nah.

The Rogers Centre? It’s sick. For real.

Is it perfect? I don’t know — who cares.

You either get it or you don’t.

For me, it’s got this feeling when I’m there that’s just … it’s hard to explain. It’s just special. You’ve got the CN Tower up above you … the hotel out in centerfield. It just feels BIG. It’s big-time. I walk out on the field there, and it’s like, Yeah … it’s about to go down."

For starters, don't take what Bo said at face value. What's he going to say? "The Rogers Centre? It's a piece of shit and I hate playing there". I'm telling you players don't like it.

Secondly, do you work at Rogers or something??? Because the people at Rogers think the t.v product will look better so I'm not sure where you getting your info.

I'm sorry you feel these aren't good reasons to build a new stadium, but your of the strong minority that feel this way. Toronto is a world class city, that is in need of a world class baseball facility to stick with the times.

Not this outdated pile of crap that sits in the downtown core that players don't like.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

This makes no sense and they absolutely won't be doing that. The stadium is completely outdated, it's way to big and in need of upgrades that just aren't worth the money.

They need a stadium that players like (helps attract free agents) and that looks good on T.V to get more viewers.

It was outdated 4 years after it opened when Camden Yards came along. By the late 1990's it was one of the worst stadiums in baseball but we were stuck with it as it was only 10 years old. By the time we get a new stadium, it will be 40 years old.

Tropicana field and Oakland (whoever is offering sponsorship money) Colosseum are waiting on line 3.

It is unfortunate that virtually EVERY MLB team built a new stadium (some have built two!) in the time since the Rogers Centre was built, and that the style of buildings during this phase of stadium design has changed drastically from the concrete doughnuts of the Rogers Centre's generation.

That being said 40 yrs is generally the life span for the typical MLB stadium so there is nothing wrong with discussing a potential replacement.

 

[C-mac]

Tropicana field and Oakland (whoever is offering sponsorship money) Colosseum are waiting on line 3.

It is unfortunate that virtually EVERY MLB team built a new stadium (some have built two!) in the time since the Rogers Centre was built, and that the style of buildings during this phase of stadium design has changed drastically from the concrete doughnuts of the Rogers Centre's generation.

That being said 40 yrs is generally the life span for the typical MLB stadium so there is nothing wrong with discussing a potential replacement.

Yeah, it's unfortunate that we literally built our stadium 3/4 years too early. It was right the end of multi-purpose stadiums era and it was just bad timing.

By the time this thing gets the green light, it 100% will have lived its life span.

 

[UrbanOzz]

1) How would you orient the seats?
2) Is it way too big? Current capacity is about 4,000 more than Camden Yards, a stadium constantly cited as an example to emulate.
3) It doesn't have the greatest exterior experience, but that can be improved.
4) I'm not sure what this even means. There is no historical limit for these kinds of stadiums. The most common reason for replacing relatively new stadiums is economic - creating a venue with new revenue streams (such as private boxes), etc. This is not a problem for the Rogers Centre.

are you a baseball fan? and if so, have you been to other ballparks?

Rogers Centre is miserable by comparison. your question 1 makes me think you haven't been anywhere. At all ballparks, the seats are oriented towards home plate. At the Dome, they're just facing forward to the field so when you're sitting along the first base line for example, you're looking straight into the outfield and need to turn your head to look at the place.

It's far too big and because it's a cookie cutter multi-purpose stadium from that era (with a lid), the sightlines are poor and distant. The highest seat in all of PNC Park is 88feet above the playing surface.

I think it needs to be torn down but if they're going to go with the reno route, it'll need extensive renos to open it up. i think they should rip out the hotel, rip out the 300,400,500 level seating out there and put up a glass wall to let in the light, but then the roof needs to sit on something so it's not as easy as it seems.

anything is possible with money though. Look at what the Angels Stadium looked like in years past compared to what it looks like now. it's a completely different place and you'd never know it was once a multipurpose piece of junk.

Angels Stadium Now

Angels Stadium Old

 

[Richard White]

are you a baseball fan? and if so, have you been to other ballparks?

Rogers Centre is miserable by comparison. your question 1 makes me think you haven't been anywhere. At all ballparks, the seats are oriented towards home plate. At the Dome, they're just facing forward to the field so when you're sitting along the first base line for example, you're looking straight into the outfield and need to turn your head to look at the place.

It's far too big and because it's a cookie cutter multi-purpose stadium from that era (with a lid), the sightlines are poor and distant. The highest seat in all of PNC Park is 88feet above the playing surface.

I think it needs to be torn down but if they're going to go with the reno route, it'll need extensive renos to open it up. i think they should rip out the hotel, rip out the 300,400,500 level seating out there and put up a glass wall to let in the light, but then the roof needs to sit on something so it's not as easy as it seems.

anything is possible with money though. Look at what the Angels Stadium looked like in years past compared to what it looks like now. it's a completely different place and you'd never know it was once a multipurpose piece of junk.

Angels Stadium Now

Angels Stadium Old

As was said hundreds if not thousands of times in this thread.. you cannot renovate the stadium and expect it all to work out. There are too many problems with the stadium to the point where it is barely up to MLB standards.

A renovation will only paper over the problems, not fix them. In order for this to work it needs to be a complete teardown.

 

[UrbanOzz]

As was said hundreds if not thousands of times in this thread.. you cannot renovate the stadium and expect it all to work out. There are too many problems with the stadium to the point where it is barely up to MLB standards.

A renovation will only paper over the problems, not fix them. In order for this to work it needs to be a complete teardown.

hey, i'm in agreement as i stated in my post but they're clearly going to look at both routes and both of them come with a can of worms.

 

[urbanexplorer]

Yeah I think he's got old news. The other site they're looking at is the Portlands, where the Google smart city was supposed to be.

This was from a convo about ~2 weeks ago; as mentioned by another poster above the pandemic seems to have caused a few convo's to reopen about using the existing stadium. I would personally prefer a tear-down but I'm not sure that's going to be the case . That being said, this is just from a passing convo with my friend, he's worked on several high profile projects but he is in no way a decision maker on this project so I guess we will see what happens.